Stiles was just wrapping up a brew when Karyna stormed into the brewery, "Do you have anything going?" She demanded.
"Just wrapped up," Stiles said, "then it's clean up and the next batch."
"It's going to have to wait," Karyna said. "The puppies are being stupid."
"Define stupid," Stiles said as he shut the door to where the fermenting bottles were stored.
"They're on their way to play with the gryphon," Karyna said.
Stiles nodded slowly, "That definitely qualifies." He looked around the brewery for anything left undone, threw the strainer in the sink with the brew pot, and nodded again. "I hate to say this, but I need to shower first. They could smell me yesterday, and I don't want to offend the gryphon."
"Point," Karyna said. "Marci will be back here in ten."
"I'll be ready in fifteen," Stiles replied as he hurries through the brewpub. "Stupid werewolves. Clearly there's information to be had, they could ask. They're going to get themselves killed. Why do I let them get to me every time?"
"Beats me," Karyna called after him.
Stiles knew though. He'd never admitted it, but he suspected a few other people had figured it out. Six years ago, he had dragged his best friend into the woods looking for a dead body and his friend had been turned into a werewolf. He got Scott into the whole thing, and if he couldn't get him back out, he could at least help him get through it.
Showered, changed into something other than ratty jeans and an old t-shirt, Stiles bounded downstairs to find Marci and Karyna sitting on the bar together. "I thought we agreed that wouldn't be a thing," Stiles said as he rolled his shoulders.
"You said," Karyna said, "and when we open, it won't be. We're just discussing the plan."
"I vote for figure it out when we get there, because if it's peaceful, we'd do better to be subtle," Stiles said.
"If it's violent, we're going to stop them and then sort it out," Karyna replied, "I'll do the talking."
"Fine by me," Stiles said, "I'm not the Red in this scenario."
Karyna smirked at him. "We're only taking this to Ninja level," Karyna said as she slid off the bar. "I don't want to reveal these unless we had to." She lifted her wrist to let the morpher catch the light.
"Let's get going," Marci said as she slid off the bar. "I want to have real food tonight."
The wolves and the gryphon weren't actually fighting, but they were growling, and the wolves were shifted to their beta forms. They had met up in a meadow, big enough for them to have their Battle Royale, but not so big that Stiles was tempted to make a Bambi reference.
Karyna looked at Stiles and Marci as she reached for her shoulder. She ripped her clothes away to reveal her leather training uniform. Stiles and Marci followed suit. Karyna then stalked forward, elemental power creating red balls of light around her fingers.
The gryphon lunged for the werewolves, but before the Pack could react, Karyna did. Wind slammed into the meadow, flattening the grass before racing to surround the combatants like tornados. "That's enough," Karyna said firmly. "There's no need for fighting here." She glared at Scott for a moment before turning to the gryphon. "I am Karyna, Master Air Ninja of the Wind Academy. My triad is Stiles, Earth Master and Marci, Water Master."
The gryphon growled and lunged for her.
"That's not right," Marci said. "Gryphons are supposed to talk, not attack. That's what he said."
"Something's wrong," Stiles said. "Karyna, something's wrong with him." He stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Something's riding him." He reached into the earth, now with magic but with the other sense that had made him eligible for the Academy six years ago.
"Can you fix it?" Karyna asked.
"No," Stiles said. "This isn't something I read up on. Gryphons aren't something I read up on before yesterday. I can't even bind him long enough to check my sources."
"What do we do then?" Marci asked, "You know I can't do that." Perhaps you'd have to know her to know that Marci was still upset that she'd never managed to master the more advanced water healing.
"We can't kill him," Karyna said, "or bind him. Whatever is riding him, would he kill?"
"Possibly," Stiles said. "Malia was just chased, but he might kill."
"How much time will it take to figure out how to help him?" Karyna asked.
"Depends on what help I can get," Stiles replied.
"Are you going to let us out any time soon?" Scott shouted.
"Are you going to try to kill a gryphon that isn't in control of himself?" Marci asked.
"No," Scott said.
Karyna snapped her fingers. "I'd suggest you put a deadline on yourself, Stiles."
"Scott, is Deaton at the vet clinic?" Stiles asked as the Alpha approached them.
"Until six," Scott replied, "why?"
"Who else do I have to ask?" Stiles asked. "Karyna, Marci, I'll see you for sunrise meditation." He stepped back, turned and launched into a ninja streak. As he ran, he heard Karyna's yell of outrage as she realized he'd left her to explain the ninja thing to the pack.
Stiles slowed down outside the vet clinic. He stopped in an out of the way alley and checked for spectators before he jogged across to the clinic. He pushed the door open, "Doctor Deaton?" Stiles called.
"Stiles," Deaton said as he stepped out of the back. "I heard you were back in town."
Stiles smiled, "It's good to see you again, sir. I had some interesting adventures because of you."
"Me?" Deaton said.
"You told me I was a Spark," Stiles said. "I met someone who could train me while I was away."
"And now you've come back," Deaton said.
"There were reasons," Stiles said. "Not the least that I'm a combative Spark. I'm really looking forward to finishing this conversation, but there's a problem."
Deaton chuckled. "That sounds familiar, how can I help?"
"There's a gryphon in the Preserve," Stiles said, "and something's controlling it. I don't know how to break that control and I'm still drained from the Fae Court battle. I have some contacts, but you're right here and my sensei was pretty adamant about using all available resources."
Deaton nodded, "I'm going to need to check my books. Come on back and let's see what we can find out."
Stiles pulled out his phone and began dialing as he followed Deaton.
As soon as someone picked up, Stiles began talking, "Ms. Rocca, this is Stiles Stilinski. May I please speak with Charlie?"
KKKKKKKKKKK
Karyna watched Stiles streak off before turning to Scott, "We should move so that I can let our friend go. I'll explain things."
"Let's do that," Scott said.
"You're going to have to lead, because I'm not exactly sure how to get out of here on foot." Karyna said.
With the Pack, and Marci, following, Scott led the way through the Preserve. Once they were clear, Karyna released the air holding the gryphon.
"So, ninjas," Scott said after a moment. "That's a thing now?"
"Ninjas have always been around," Karyna replied, "we just don't like to draw attention unless we have to."
"And that whole water, earth, air thing?" Scott asked.
"Ninjas have the ability to channel elements," Karyna said. "My triad, that is, Stiles, Marci, and I, trained at the Wind Academy, which teaches air, earth, and water elemental control. There's also the Thunder Academy, which teaches lightning control, among other elements. The Academies have been an open secret for over ten years now, ever since Blue Bay Harbor's Ninja Storm Rangers fought Lothor. Training at the academies run differently, depending upon when you're recruited. Stiles and Marci were still in high school, so they were long track to include their academics. I got my diploma early, so I could focus on my ninja training until Stiles talked me into getting my degree."
"So you're all master ninjas?" Kira asked.
"Yup," Marci replied. "We took the extra studies for mastery. It's part of why our training took so long. We only graduated last year."
"What can you do?" Kira asked.
"I manipulate and draw power from water," Marci said. "Mostly it's just a useful way to win water wars, or freak people out when I walk on water. I mean, I can use it in combat, but how often does that come up? Stiles keeps talking about making beer from the water I draw out of the air, but we haven't tried it yet."
"That's cool," Kira said, "I can work with electricity and lightning, and fox fire."
"Right, you're the Kitsune," Marci said. "Stiles was talking about you last night."
"He was?" Kira asked.
"He said you were good with a katana and that we should spar sometimes," Marci said.
"You use a katana?" Kira asked.
"Yeah," Marci said, "I mean, we studied other weapons, and hand to hand, but the katana has always been my favorite. Karyna prefers hand to hand, and Stiles never showed a real preference even though he's good, but I am the katana queen."
"We definitely need to get together and spar," Kira said. "I don't have that many sparring partners."
"After we deal with our winged friend, I'll be happy to arrange something," Marci replied happily.
"We'd better change out of our leathers," Karyna said. "We wouldn't want people to get ideas."
"How do you do that?" Scott asked.
"Magic," Karyna said, "I think. Stiles can explain all the details. All I really ever understood was that the change was based on our elemental connection, and it's sort of a low-level morph, like Power Rangers do. It just makes it harder for us to get hurt. It doesn't enhance anything."
"I have way too many questions," Scott said.
"We'll see how many we can answer," Karyna replied.
A/N I have way too much fun with these chapters. Thanks for your reviews and favs! (Yes, I always intended Marci and Kira to bond over katanas. It seemed appropriate.)