If you are what you eat, does that mean that cannibals are the only actual humans around?

Random question, I know, but hey! That's just me! What do you think the answer is?

Please enjoy!

"Chief, look out!"

Cortana just managed to rely her message before the robot attacked. One of the giant robot arms fired at the Chief, but he quickly dodged out of the way. He then grabbed a rocket launcher from off the floor and fired both shots at the robot. The shots were true, but while damaged the robot was still standing. It fired a bomb from out of its pack and then launched itself in the air, trying to squash the Chief. The Chief rolled out of the way, then climbed up the side of the robot when it landed. The robot spun its head around as it tried to shake off the Spartan, but in vain. The Chief pulled a Plasma Grenade from his belt and stuck it on the eyes of the robot, then jumped off as it exploded. The results were satisfying. The hatch exploded open and a confused Eggman was seen sitting in the cockpit.

"Uh..." Eggman said, "Retreat! Fall back! Fall back!"

His Eggmobile detached from the rest of the robot and he started to fly away. His Badniks also started to escape through a portal that one of them had just set up. Right when Eggman flew by the Chief, however, he pressed a button on his Eggmobile and a tractor beam suddenly grabbed the Chief and dragged him with Eggman. The Chief struggled, but to no avail. The Marines fired at Eggman's vehicle, and finally damaged it enough for the tractor beam to be deactivated. However, the Chief had been moving at too fast a speed to slow down in time, and was sucked up into the portal as well. The portal closed behind the Badniks, preventing any means of following the Chief or knowing where he was.

"Chief? Are you okay?"

The Chief sat up and looked around at his surroundings. The robot army was nowhere to be seen, but he had still evidently ended up somewhere. He looked around him. Not far off in the distance he could see a city of some kind. It looked rather fair and nice to look at, until he noticed the plume of smoke that was coming from its midst.

"Cortana, where are we?" the Chief asked, as he stooped down to pick up his rifle nearby.

"I'm not sure. This doesn't make any sense. We're not anywhere that we know, and yet we're close to Earth as well. I can't figure this out."

"So, what's the plan?"

"Well that plume of smoke may be worth checking out," the AI suggested. "At the very least we may be able to figure out what's happening with the natives here."

The Chief nodded and started to walk towards the city in the distance. It was a long walk, but the Chief was without the luxury of any vehicles to use, so he had no other form of transportation. Unfortunately, when he was just nearing the city limits, he found the cause of the pillar of smoke in the distance. An old enemy of his, the Flood, was seen running through the streets of the city, chasing after some strange human-sized figures. The figures seemed human enough, but looked like some kind of familiar toy.

"Lego figures?" Cortana mused. "Please tell me that we aren't in some kid's dream. Considering that there's Flood in here too, I think we're out of luck on that option."

"So, do we help them?"

"Well we can't let the Flood consume too much and get too powerful, can we?"

The Chief lifted his rifle and began blasting away at the Flood as they appeared. The Flood did try to attack him occasionally, but they mainly seemed to be concentrated on the Lego humans. The Chief blasted away at a swarm of Infection Forms that had recently just appeared. He needed to find where they had come from, or the Flood would consume the entire city. Luckily, one of the citizens he saved pointed him towards the city square, where the Flood had come from first. The Chief started to run through the streets as he headed for the ship at the center of town. Little did he know, on the other side of the city, a group of Ninja were quickly making their way to the same location.

"What are these things?" Jay asked as he smacked down yet another of the strange creatures.

"My analysis suggests that they are some kind of alien parasite," Zane stated.

"Don't let any of the little ones jump on you!" Cole shouted. He had just witnessed the horrific transformation of one of the nearby officers when an Infection Form jumped onto him and burrowed into the officer's flesh. Cole had thankfully put the officer out of his misery before the transformation could be completed, but it was still a terrifying experience.

"We need to get to that ship in the city square," Lloyd said as he took down yet another Combat Form. "It's where they're coming from!"

"If we can get to the ship, I'll need you guys to buy me some time while I try to set the ship to self-destruct!" Jay shouted.

"Let's do this!" Kai shouted. "Tornado of Creation, go!"

The Ninja used their Spinjitsu to create the tornado-like energy around their bodies, calling out their respective elements as they did.

"Earth!"

"Fire!"

"Ice!"

"Lightning!"

The Ninja combined their tornadoes together and shouted, "NINJAGO!"

A massive tornado engulfed them, sucking in most of the Flood nearby. Any that weren't grabbed by the tornado were blasted by Lloyd's golden energy. The Tornado of Creation moved through the city for a few more seconds, then disappeared leaving only the Ninja and a few now-dead parasites. No more of the parasites could be seen or heard. The Ninja took this opportunity to make a mad dash towards the city square, which they could just see up ahead. The smoke from the crashed ship could be seen over even the highest buildings, almost as if taunting them to come closer. Like it or not, that's what they did, for the fate of all Ninjago lay in their hands.

The Chief had finally made it. Here was the culprit that had caused this damage; an infected Covenant Ship. And from the looks of it, it had been infected quite recently too. The Chief approached the ship slowly, not sure if there were more of the Flood lurking about nearby. Suddenly, there was a screech from a Combat Form above him, and he looked to see a Flood figure just as it was sliced in half by another Lego figure. This one, however, was in a ninja's outfit that was red in color. He was quickly joined by four others, each in a different color. All but one of them, a golden ninja, carried a weapon of some kind, all of them familiar with a ninja. They regarded the Chief with suspicion and stood with their weapons at the ready. The Chief kept his rifle ready in case it came down to a fight. Finally, the red ninja asked, "Who are you? And why have you attacked us?"

The Chief was confused and lowered his guard a bit.

"They must think that we set the Flood upon them," Cortana said to the Chief. "I guess you can talk your way out of this one, but be careful."

The Chief gave the Ninja his full attention.

"I am Spartan 117, but you can call me Master Chief. I don't want to fight you."

"Then why did you send these things!?" the black ninja demanded.

"I didn't send them. The Flood are no friends of mine."

As if to confirm his statement, a Flood Combat Form rose up from out of the ship and charged at the Chief with a howl. The Chief simply fired a few rounds into the Flood without turning towards it and it fell to the ground dead.

"Okay, he's cool," the blue ninja said in response.

"So, what happens now?" the gold ninja asked.

The Chief turned towards the ship's exposed interior and asked, "Any of you know how to make a ship self-destruct?"

To say that the ship's exploding core was a pleasant site to see was an understatement. It was a relief to see the ship, and ironically the entire square, go up in a fiery explosion. The Chief and Cortana both soon got to know who their mystery ninja were and what they did here in Ninjago. The two sides exchanged stories on how they got here, and they took it surprisingly well.

"So, you're saying that those things are from your universe?" Cole inquired.

"Yes," Cortana replied, now fully visible as a holographic image standing in the palm of the Chief's hand. "They are extremely dangerous. Just one Flood Spore alone has the potential of destroying an entire planet. But I'm still wondering how they ended up here."

"I sense that this attack was no accident," Zane replied gravely. "Rather, I sense that this was planned out from the start in the hopes that we would turn on each other due to misunderstanding."

"If those things planned this attack, then we need to find out where they're coming from!" Lloyd stated.

"The Chief and I have detected a wormhole or portal of some kind off in the wilderness of Ninjago," Cortana explained. "I'd say that's our best start."

"Then let's go!" Jay shouted, jumping on his motorbike.

"Um, would any of you know where to find a spare vehicle for us first?" Cortana asked.

"Oh, sorry!" Kai said sheepishly. "We almost forgot. I'll have Nia drop off an extra for you two. I just hope that you'll fit on it."

The Chief made Cortana disappear and placed his rifle on his back.

"We'll manage. For now, let's concentrate on stopping the Flood."

"Well, this isn't doing too well," TD said aloud as he stared into a large crystal ball. "I was hoping that a fight would occur. This is getting a little dangerous..."

TD seemed to suddenly be fighting with himself on a decision, then finally slammed his fist on the table.

"No matter!" he stated. "They are still no match for me! That conflict idea was just a precaution, a little bonus. Even without it, the plan will still work."

TD smiled with an evil grin as he continued.

"And all will know true power...finally."

Yes, this was a short chapter! Most of these might be that way, but that's mainly because I'm trying to pick up speed for each group of heroes meeting up in their worlds before they all meet up at the source of their troubles. Oh, and apologies for the long wait!

Review, follow, favorite, and I'll catch ya'll next time!

Peace!