Nice to meet you, Kijo." Hiccup replied. Then he cocked his head to one side and stared at Kijo's wings. "How'd you get those cool wings?"
"Oh, these things?" Kijo remarked, spreading his one unbound wing wide. Then he sighed. "I earned them."
"You don't sound so happy about that."
"No, I'm not. These things are nothing but a nuisance. They've already gotten me in so much trouble."
Hiccup was intrigued. He never thought that having dragon wings would be a nuisance. But he was also concerned. Berk had already had its share of troubles, what with what happened with Drago Bludfist and all. "What kind of trouble?" he asked.
"Well, for starters, I was just practicing my flying skills when I got shot out of the sky and—" Kijo suddenly stopped as he realized who had been doing the shooting.
The Claws of Imperium. They had been the ones on the cliff! They had tried to shoot him down, thinking that he was a dragon! He debated with himself whether he should tell Hiccup or not. But he decided that it wasn't the best move right now. He still had no idea how he got here or how he was going to get back. And both his questions would have to be answered if he was going to warn the others that the Claws were back.
Hiccup noticed his hesitation and was thinking of asking him why he had stopped. But it probably wasn't the best move. Kijo was clearly very confused—probably didn't understand how he had gotten here, in Berk. For that matter, he might not know how to get back. Hiccup knew he needed to help him, but first he needed some answers taken care of. If Kijo was in danger somehow, there would be no sense in going on his way without knowing what the pup was up against. And that rope around his back leg and right wing made it pretty obvious that something was going on. Someone had shot him down for a reason, and Hiccup knew he needed to find out what.
But first things first, he needed to get that thing off of Kijo. Good thing he always kept a dagger around just in case he ran into situations like this. "Stay still." he said before whipping it out and quickly yet carefully cutting the rope. The rope fell away and Kijo exclaimed, "Thanks!" before standing up and stretching.
"Where are you from, Kijo?" Hiccup asked.
At that question, Kijo's face fell. "Nin-Ninjago." he answered quietly, looking away wistfully.
Hiccup raised an eyebrow. Ninjago? That didn't sound like a place he was familiar with. But then again, the world was probably a whole lot bigger than he thought. Unless…unless this pup was from a different realm altogether. Could he be? Was it even possible?
But he didn't have time to worry about that now. Kijo might be in grave danger, and if he was, then they had no time to lose. "Could you…would you like to go back to my village? It's not too far from here."
Kijo hesitated. He wasn't really too keen on going anywhere he wasn't familiar with—not after what had happened over that cliff. But he did need answers. And he needed them fast.
"O-Okay." he stammered, sincerely hoping he was not making a grave mistake.
Ninjago, present day
Kirby yawned and stretched. Boy, did he have a good sleep last night! Much better than he had been in the past several weeks. For some strange reason, he had been having a lot of nightmares lately. They had nearly all played out the same way. First he would find himself in some strange lair that he knew had to be somewhere in the Merged Realms but didn't know exactly where. Then he would round the corner and see a huge cage with a black dragon trapped inside. But the dragon was like none that he had ever seen. It looked a lot like a giant black cat with wings and a lizard-like tail. It had huge green eyes that looked like they belonged on a cat. The strangest thing was it also had blue-and-purple scales running along its back. And it always looked very sad. Then the scene would shift to a vast desert, and he would see a strange orange crystal with a blue-and-purple streak running through it. It would glow so brightly he could barely look at it. But then he would look up and see a huge black dragon—kind of like one of the Source Dragons in its form—chasing him. He would turn and run, but no matter what he did, the dragon would always gain on him. It would roar, and then he would suddenly wake up, hot and sweaty.
As he stood beside his bed, he wondered if he should tell the others about this. But he decided not to. He had no clue what this meant, and he didn't want to jump to conclusions. He looked over at the alarm clock, and nearly screamed when he saw the time—9:50 a.m.
He was late for practice! He bolted out of his room and was at the courtyard in a flash. "Sorry I'm late!" he panted. "Slept in by mistake!"
"That's okay, Kirby." Twinkle exclaimed. "I figured you needed the extra sleep anyway. But you might want to get started—no telling how long we'll need to train today.
"Okay." Kirby replied. He was just about to get started when something happened. A strange hum filled the air, and four sets of feet and thirteen sets of paws dashed into the courtyard. Apparently, the others could sense it too.
"What's going on?"
"What's happening?"
"What's that noise?"
"Where's it coming from?"
But before any of them could have their questions answered, a huge shockwave hit them all—hard. They fell to the ground from the impact.
"Um, what just happened?" Arin pondered.
"I don't know." Kito replied. Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn by a strange sight in the sky. A large portal opened up and a huge black dragon with blue-and-purple ridge scales fell out of the sky.