It wasn't real.

It couldn't be. Stryker had to be trapped in another sick dream. That was the only reason why he was trapped in Hannibal's vines, arms pinned to his sides with ten stories between him and the ground, while the Sapphire Dragon glared down at his best friend.

"Jack!" he shouted, struggling against Hannibal's hold.

Hannibal let out another laugh; Jack didn't even shift his gaze. It was as if his eyes were glued to the Dragon in front of him. This couldn't be happening.

"Jack!" Entropy cried. She and Cinder were trapped back to back, being squeezed slowly to the point where there were tears pouring down their cheeks. "Snap out of it!"

Zephyr was unconscious beside him, a trickle of blood dripping from his forehead. The dolt had tried taking Hannibal by surprise using the Notus Hammer, and had gotten batted across the head for his efforts. It was a miracle he was still breathing. Stryker couldn't find the monks anywhere; they'd probably fled to safety.

Stryker twisted and managed to free one of his arms, grimacing as the grip on him got tighter. He looked up and saw that Hannibal's concern was obviously on the scene in front of him. He wasn't even sparing a glance their way. A crack sounded beside him and Cinder shrieked. Something had broken, and it gave him the last little shove he needed. His eyes glowed gold and he felt his fangs growing. He ran his forked tongue across his teeth and tasted something metallic. Poison. Hopefully he could turn it to herbicide.

He reared his head back and opened his mouth wide; he'd allowed the transformation to occur enough for his jaw to unhinge with a wet pop. Entropy turned in time to see him sink his teeth into Hannibal's vine, biting as deeply as he could. Hannibal jolted and stared down at him. His eyes went wide when a dull brown shot out from around Stryker and began to spread.

"What're you doing!" he screeched, loud enough for Zephyr to stir.

He screamed again as his vine started to wither. Stryker pried his mouth out in time for the vine to shrivel around him. Zephyr reached over and grabbed his hand before he fell, watching the tendril deflate before his eyes. Hannibal was screaming in pain, shrinking, and soon he had to tap into his Shadow Form as the vine holding him disintegrated. Cinder and Entropy shrieked as they started to plummet, but the boys caught them in the air and they watched Hannibal disappear from view, his cries becoming smaller and smaller as he shriveled away. Zephyr set everyone on the ground and they tried to search him out, but a large woosh sounded behind them and brought their attention to Jack.

"...No..."

The monks had been knocked back and were watching helplessly as the Sapphire Dragon overtook Jack. It dissolved into black cloud and started to infiltrate his throat, his eyes, every crevice of his body. Jack's eyes were abnormally wide and glowing lightning blue.

"Jack!" Stryker shrieked, racing to him.

Some sort of forcefield stopped him two feet from him. Jack's limp body was floating inches from the ground. Black veins started to form from his fingers, racing up his arms like claws. The cloud swirled a moment longer, then shot forward and blasted into Jack's face, covering it from view.

A moment later it was gone and Jack fell to his knees, clutching his head. He stumbled to his feet, looking around the landscape, and then his eyes, frightened, landed on Stryker. They were normal, red like they should be, and for a second Stryker thought it was over, that nothing had happened and everything would be okay. But Jack's face was so afraid and he was quivering, and the tendrils had yet to leave.

"Stryker?" Jack whimpered.

And then his eyes turned to black voids. His head snapped back and Stryker was thrown aside by the explosion of power that encompassed the field.