"A dragon? Falling out of the sky? Why am I not surprised?" The remark had come from Matthew, and Kirby made a mental note to ask him about it later. His thoughts were interrupted by Gracie crying out, "Well, what are we waiting for? We have to go find that dragon! He could use our help!"
"You heard her, guys." Twinkle added. "Let's move!"
"I will stay behind and guard the dojo." Zane stated.
"I'll stay with you." Everest volunteered.
With that, the ninja and pups raced down the side of the mountain as fast as they could. In no less than ten minutes, they were down in the valley where the dragon had crashed.
"Whoa-wee!" exclaimed Marshal.
"This dragon is huge!" Sweetie added.
"I'll say!" Kai piped up. "Only question—where did it come from?"
"Maybe the First Realm?" Kaiyo offered.
"Nope, dragons from the First Realm don't look like this." Gracie answered. "Trust me, I should know."
"Right, and I don't think it's from Imperium, either." Nya added.
As the ninja and pups started tossing back and forth more ideas of where the dragon could have come from, Rex and Rocky started inching ever so slowly towards where the dragon lay—not too close, though. They didn't want to wake it and have a dragon fight on their paws.
"Hey, Rocky!" Rex whispered. "Take a look at this!"
Rocky inched closer to where Rex was pointing. There he saw what appeared to be a prosthetic tail fin. It was made of a combination of metal rods and a red flag with a skull symbol on it. A quick glance at the dragon's tail told him exactly why the dragon needed the tail fin. But it had apparently broken off in the crash and was going to need some serious repair before the dragon could use it again.
Rocky lay on the ground and scooted on his stomach over to get a closer look. He turned his head to face the dragon and noticed that there was a saddle on the dragon's back. He then looked down and saw what looked like a specially designed stirrup, probably made for someone with a prosthetic leg. Then Rocky gasped as he realized what this meant.
"Rex, do you realize what this means?"
"Um, no. What does it mean?"
"This dragon—he's just like you! He can't fly on his own!"
"Maybe, but if you're right, then where is his rider?"
Suddenly the dragon stirred. Without saying a word, the two pups backed away from the dragon, hopeful it wouldn't wake. But in their hurry to get out of the dragon's line of fire, they didn't realize that the others were right behind them. "OW!" Kirby and Cole exclaimed as Rocky and Rex bumped into them. "Shh! He's waking up!" Rocky whisper-yelled. But it was too late. Everyone watched in horror as the dragon yawned and opened his eyes.
"I can't watch!" Rubble yelled, cowering in fright and covering his eyes with his paws. Twinkle wondered if they should run. But to her and everyone else's surprise, the dragon did not blast them with fire and smoke—or anything else for that matter. It just stared at them, as if pleading for their help.
"Oh, it looks so sad!" Gracie observed.
"No comprendo. I don't understand." Tracker stated. "Why doesn't he just fly away?"
"I don't think he can." Kelly answered. "Look at his tail. It's only got one flap."
"Kelly's right." Rocky added. "I noticed a broken tail fin prosthetic back there. It must have broken off in the crash. He probably needs that to fly."
"Don't forget a rider!" Rex exclaimed.
"But where is his rider?" Andrew wondered.
Rocky and Rex shrugged. Then Twinkle looked at the dragon once more and simply said, "I'm so sorry. We'll help you find your rider, I promise."
"But how are we—" Tuck piped up.
"Going to do that?" Ella finished. Then the two said as one, "We don't know where he is!"
"I don't know." said Twinkle. "But we'll figure out something. Right, Lloyd?"
No answer.
"Um, Lloyd?" Twinkle asked, looking up at her connectee. Lloyd currently was looking straight at the dragon's eyes. He looked as if he was trying to figure out what the dragon was trying to tell him.
"You okay, Lloyd?" Twinkle asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay. It's just…" Lloyd hesitated a moment, then continued. "I feel like he's trying to tell me something, but he doesn't know how."
"I feel it too, Lloyd. Something's going on here, and only this dragon knows what. But how do we find out what he's trying to say?"
Lloyd's answer was to slowly approach the dragon—much to his friends' dismay.
"No, Lloyd, don't!" Kai cried out.
"You don't have to do this, Lloyd!" Nya added.
"What are you doing?!" Cole exclaimed.
But Lloyd just kept going, not saying a word. Soon he was close enough to touch the dragon's snout. He reached out his hand, trying to ensure that the dragon remained calm. But the dragon didn't seem to like how Lloyd was making eye contact with him. He snarled quietly and backed away slightly. Then Lloyd's face took on a look of recognition. He kept his hand extended but looked away at the ground. As Twinkle and the others watched, wondering in fear and awe what would happen next, the dragon bumped Lloyd's hand with his head—much like what had happened to Kai when he had touched the snout of the Wind Dragon, back in the First Realm. Then Lloyd looked back at his friends, his hand still on the dragon's snout, and smiled.
"You can uncover your eyes, Rubble. He's not going to eat Lloyd." Skye exclaimed.
Rubble uncovered his eyes and exclaimed, "Oh."
"Whoa, dude!" Zuma exclaimed. "How did you do that?!"
"Simple. When I looked at him, I saw myself." Then Lloyd looked down, his face shrouded in guilt. "I saw…how I once didn't want to trust anyone. Not even my closest friends."
Twinkle was about to reply when something strange happened. Lloyd's hands suddenly lit up with a green light. As all the pups and ninja watched, green energy flowed into the dragon, and the next thing they knew, a strange glowing green tail fin had formed—right where the prosthetic would have been situated. It looked similar to the pups' own Power Wings, except it was more like a Power Tail. The dragon purred with happiness and burrowed its head into Lloyd's arms as a thank-you.
"Okay, you're welcome, big guy." Lloyd said. Then he looked at the dragon's eyes again. "Where are you from, dragon? How did you get here?"
But before he could get an answer, the dragon jerked his head up. His ears perked up in sheer concentration and then flattened back against his head as he snarled. "What's up, big guy?" Lloyd asked. "Do you smell something?"
Tracker's ears suddenly shot up, twitching as he tried to hone in on a distant sound. "I hear footsteps, headed this way!"
At that remark, Twinkle switched to full-on alert. "Stay sharp, pups." she commanded as the ninja and pups took up fighting positions. They could suddenly hear someone coming through the bushes. Or was it a whole group of someones?
Kirby looked all around him in terror. Being stalked by an unknown foe was not his favorite thing in all the worlds. Then a sudden movement startled him. One look was all he needed to realize who was sneaking up on them at that very moment.
"Claws of Imperium!" he cried out just before Ras, Jordana, and several Claw underlings leaped out of the bushes.
"There is no escape!" cried Jordana. "We have you surrounded!"
"That's what you think!" Twinkle cried out before yelling, "Ninja, go!"
The ninja and pups rushed forward to meet the Claws of Imperium, who rushed forward in turn. But laser blasters were no match for Mighty Powers. Twinkle blasted several Claws with her plasmabolts. They flew backward from the impact and landed in the bushes. Zuma and Nya used their water jets to take out two more Claws. Kai, Marshal, and Wyldfire used their powers to incinerate/melt down the blasters. Rubble and Cole were able to blast several Claws backwards with their quake power and Earth Punch. Arin and Kito used their Object Spinjitzu to fire several rocks at the Claws. Kelly and Sora used their powers to create some blasters of their own. The others used Spinjitzu and their pup-fu skills to help out their friends. But in the midst of the excitement, no one noticed Ras inching towards Lloyd. The burly lord from Chima had seen Lloyd heal the dragon, and he wanted the boy's power. Lloyd suddenly found himself up against a cliff wall with Ras coming nearer and nearer. He screamed, and Twinkle turned around to see him trapped against the cliff.
"Lloyd!" she cried out, running to help him.
"No, Twinkle! Don't!" Andrew cried out. But before Twinkle could get to Lloyd, something terrible happened. The dragon, who had been forgotten in the chaos, let out a loud roar, raced towards Lloyd, and grabbed him in his teeth. Lloyd cried out in fright as the dragon carried him up and away. The rest of the team looked up to see the horrible sight, and the Claws of Imperium slipped away unnoticed.
"No!" Kai cried out.
"LLOYD!" Twinkle screamed before bursting into tears. The other pups just stared upward in horror at what had just happened. They couldn't understand what had just taken place. Lloyd being carried off by a dragon—it didn't seem right. It wasn't fair!
For a few heart-stopping moments, the air was filled with nothing but Twinkle's heartbroken sobs. Even the birds stopped their singing. Andrew stood beside his grieving sister and put a paw around her in a gesture of comfort. Then he glared. The Claws of Imperium were going to pay for what had happened to Lloyd.
"We won't let the Claws of Imperium get away with this. We've got to go after Lloyd and that dragon."
Twinkle sniffled. "We're going to find him?"
"Yes. We have to find him—no matter what it takes." Andrew replied.
Just then, Zane and Everest came bolting down the mountain as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Ninja! Pups!" Everest cried out, panting with exhaustion. "We have a problem. Kijo's gone."
"Kijo's gone?!" Rocky repeated in alarm.
"Yes." Zane answered. "We haven't seen him all morning."
"Oh, no." Kai said worryingly. And from the looks on the others' faces, he wasn't the only one who felt this way.