At the Monastery. Riyu is chasing a butterfly, while Sora tries to fix the SA Mark 01. "Oh, come on!" She said held out her left arm at an attempt to bring out her power, but nothing was happening. "Weird powers. Why won't you work now?"
On the other side of the courtyard. Lloyd, Chantal and Raya watch as Arin takes on the training course.
"I can do this." Arin told himself, pulling on the hoodie of his shirt. "This, I can do." He goes through and stumbles through before he falls halfway, Lloyd does Spinjitzu to push him out. "Thanks, Mast … uh, Lloyd."
"Lloyd, can I go now?" Raya asked with excitement, and impationtly. "Please, please?"
"Go, have fun." Lloyd smiles at her. "But not too much. Remember what happened last time."
Raya frowns. "That was dad's doing, I had nothing to do with it." She reminds him, then runs for the course.
"I really thought I could do it, but I forgot something." Arin said with a frown, his shoulders slumped as he and Lloyd watch Raya go through the course with ease. "That I'm the worst student in the history of students."
"The worst?" Lloyd asks, turning to him. "Remind me to tell you about the time, my friend Jay, the Lightning Ninja, trained in the south wing."
Arin frowns, looking at him. "The Monastery doesn't have a south wing."
"Not after Jay trained there." Chantal laughed. "The look on Master Wu's face!"
Lloyd smiles as he nods. "Arin." He places a hand on the teen's shoulder. "You learned a version of Spinjitzu by yourself. Totally unheard of. But, you have to unlearn some of what you taught yourself to relearn a more ... balanced approach."
"Really?"
"Well, I don't need to relearn anything, 'cause I never learned anything in the first place!" Sora huffed. "This elemental power stuff's impossible."
"It took me a long time to tap into my potential." Lloyd told her, he turns to watch Raya, who was still on the training course. "Nya, Raya's aunt. It took a long time for her Elemental Power to awaken." Lloyd turns back to Sora. "And you will too."
Sora shrugs. "I'm not even sure I have an elemental power. Tech power?"
"I haven't heard of it either." Lloyd said. "But I've studied elemental powers all my life. I'm telling you, the true power is inside of you." He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"No, I'm pretty sure they're Riyu's powers." Sora replied as the butterfly comes over to them and the baby dragon runs up to them. "And I just, like, borrow them or something."
"You saw me with the Matriarch." Lloyd reminds. "She sent my powers into overdrive. I don't know why dragon energy enhances elemental powers, but those were my powers, not hers."
"If this power is in me. How come I can't feel it?" Sora asked as Raya walked over to them.
"Every element is different." Raya said. "My dad could walk through Fire and not get burned, and he can dry himself off with his heat. Cole can feel the power of Earth in his gut, Aunty Nya can feel Water flowing through her veins, Zane can sense Ice power in his mind, Jay."-
Riyu suddenly screeches as he stands on a wall, looking towards the sky.
"What's got Riyu all worked up?" Sora asked.
"One way to find out!" Raya runs, then jumps into the air, doing Airjitzu.
Lloyd turns to Chantal. "Honey, stay here." He told her, before doing Airjitzu and joining Raya and Riyu, Arin pulls out his grappling hook.
"Lloyd!" Raya cried with excitement, bouncing in place. "The Bounty! It's the Destiny's Bounty!" She pushed Arin out of the way, accidentally making him lose balance on the wall as she tried to run for the Bounty. "Raya!" He grabs her. "Hold on there fire pants."
"Lemme go, lemma go, lemme go!"
Suddenly the Destiny's Bounty starts to hurl towards them with no stopping.
"LLOYD!" Chantal screamed.
"Incoming!" Lloyd yells, and the team is able to jump back into the courtyard, as the Bounty hits the wall and continues onto its crash course.
"I'm thinking Kai's mission was not a success." Sora said as they sat up.
"DAD!" Raya screamed
"Come on!" Lloyd grabs her, doing Spinjitzu as the Bounty descends off the Mountain Of A Million Steps, Arin pulls out his grappling hook as Riyu jumps onto his back.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Lloyd and Raya land on the deck of the Bounty. "Kai!" Lloyd calls was Arin and Riyu join them. "Kai!"
"Dad!" Raya cried, she turns and runs below deck, Riyu runs after her.
"Battle damage?" Lloyd asked, watching the fire. "What did Kai get himself into?" He asks just as Sora lands on the deck.
Raya comes back onto the deck, whipping her eyes. "Lloyd, he's not here."
He walks up to her. "I know." He said as he wrapped his arm around her, and Riyu rubs against her legs. "We will find him."
"Uhh, here's a thought." Sora said as the Bounty continued to hurl down the mountain. "We should probably steer away from those mountains."
Raya runs for the stairs and grabs the helm, but the wheel wouldn't turn. "Lloyd, it's stuck!" She cries, he jumps up next to her and grabs the wheel from her.
"The steering's jammed!"
Sora opens the hatch on the Bounty and jumps down. "The steering column isn't attached to the rudder anymore!" She calls out.
"That bad, right?" Lloyd asks as he and Raya both have a hold of the helm.
"Really bad! Riyu, my tools!" Sora calls. The baby dragon turns to the toolbox and pushes it down the hatch where it crashed onto her. "Ow! Thanks."
As the Destiny's Bounty continues to hurl down, Lloyd and Raya continue to hold the helm, and Arin grabs a fire extinguisher to blow out the fire on the deck.
"Sora! Any day now!" Raya yelled, again impatiently.
"Try that!"
Lloyd and Raya pull and yank, but nothing happens. "You call that an improvement!?" Raya yells. "My aunt, Jay, Eleanor, and Zane can have the Bounty flying smoothly faster then this!"
"Ugh! Now!"
Lloyd yanks the helm, and the Destiny's Bounty turns, managing to avoid the mountain but they bump it and slow down to the ground and hovers for a fe moments.
"Gently, gently." Lloyd said as he tried to set the Bounty down, only for the ship to crash land. Causing both Lloyd and Raya to fly head first off the top part and land on the deck, Lloyd on his back with the wheel in his hands, and Raya lands on top of Arin.
Sora pokes out of the hatch, rubbing her back. "Should we be taking notes?"
Lloyd pushes himself up. "Let us never speak of this."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
They head into the cabin. "There's gotta be some clues about where the Bounty came from."
Raya looks at the floor, seeing something she knelt down to inspect further. "Scorch marks?"
"What?" Lloyd walks over to her and knelt next to her. "This doesn't make sense. Kai would never attack his own ship!"
"I doubt he made this massive blast hole." Arin said, pointing at the huge hole in the wall. "Something huge hit this."
Agh. And why is there a puddle in here?" Sora asked, her foot stepping on the puddle. "Water and fire?"
"My dad is fire! And my aunt is water!" Raya shot out, glaring at her.
"Raya! Calm. Down." Lloyd instructed, he stood up and grabbed some paper. "These are definitely Kai's notes. Looks like he was filling in this map as he went. And he only got to here."
"That's the direction that the Bounty came from." Raya said as she stood next to him, and looking at the map.
"Then that's were we need to go." Lloyd told her.
Emotion instantly filled Raya, she turns and walks out of the cabin, the others watching her.
"Raya." Arin tried to go after her, but Lloyd placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Let her be." The blonde looks at Kai's notes again. "It's up to us to figure out what happened to Kai."
"But." Arin starts, then hesitates. "What if something bad happened to him?"
"If something did, then we'll have to find Nya." Lloyd answered, studying Kai's notes.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXx
"Should we check in on Raya?" Arin asked Lloyd as they set a course to the place where the Bounty had came from. "She hasn't come up in a long while."
"Trust me." Lloyd turns to him. "You do not want to go near a Smith when they have pent up emotion." He warns. "She'll be fine."
Arin took a deep breath as he nods. "It must've been serious trouble for Kai to abandon ship." He then looked around, hoping to not get his head chopped off if Raya had came up to sneak behind him.
"Serious trouble is something Kai's great at finding." Lloyd said with a smile.
"But, there's the other explanation that this is all an elaborate trap to capture and destroy us." Raya said as she walks up to them, Riyu squeaks happily, and Raya smiles as she pets him.
"Yes!" Lloyd nods.
Sora laughs. "Right. What are the odds that someone would do that?"
"In my experience, everything is a big trap about half the time." Lloyd replied flatly.
Sora laughs again. "Seriously?"
"Mostly two thirds of the time." Raya answered.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The Destiny's Bounty finally makes it to the place where it had came from. "We should be here." Lloyd said, standing at the helm and looking at Kai's notes. "You see anything?" He asks, looking towards Arin, who was leaning down.
"Nothing on this side, just mud." He turns to look towards Sora. "Sora?"
"Just two big dragons in a massive battle with stone dudes."
Lloyd, Arin and Raya look at each other, then hurry up to stand on either side of the pink haired teen. Riyu squeaked in distress as stone creatures threw boulders at the dragons.
"Riyu's right!" Arin exclaimed. "Those dragons need our help!"
"What's attacking them?" Sora asked.
"Craglings." Lloyd answered. "Rock monsters from the Realm Of Madness." He turns and runs for the helm.
Arin pulls out his grappling hook, and Riyu jumps onto his back. "Going in!" He leaps off the Bounty.
"Wait!" Lloyd yells, trying to steady the ship, and too late as Arin disappears down below. "He just left! You never run into a fight without a plan of."- He trails off when Sora leaps into her Mech.
"See you down there, teach!" She then jumps off.
Lloyd groans. "Isn't the point of being a student to listen to your teachers?" He turns to Raya, who was standing next to him. "Why aren't you following them?"
"I learned my lesson long ago." The red head answered, folding her arms. "All the stunts I pulled? I think I really did add more years to your uncle."
Lloyd sighed. "And we did the exact same thing when we were your age." He moves around the helm. "Come on, we need to help."
XxXxXxXxXx
Leaping off the Destiny's Bounty, the two Spinjitzu in to help defeat the Craglings.
"Nice!" Arin cheers as he, Lloyd and Raya watch the dragons fly away. "We gave the dragons cover to get away!"
Suddenly, they're knocked over by a blast of water, only Lloyd and Raya keep balanced as the bubble of water flies back and Lloyd slices it, causing it to desolve.
"The only person person who can control water like that is." Lloyd trails off, turning to see Nya leaping towards him with her power propelling her and she lands gracefully. "Nya!" He pulls off his hood.
"Lloyd?" Nya Smith pulls off her own hood as the two walk towards each other.
"Why are you fighting the enemy?" They both ask, staring at each other. "I'm not fighting the enemy, you are!" They stop and share a smile and hug.
Raya squealed in delight. "AUNTY!" She runs over Arin.
"Raya?" Nya asked with a smile as Raya came up to Lloyd's side. "No way, this can't be my niece."
"I am." Raya smiles through tears. "I'm a teen now."
"I can see that." Nya smiles, she holds out her arms. "Come here kiddo."
With tears, Raya ran to her aunt and the two hugged tightly. "Aw, sweetheart, it's ok." She tried to sooth when Raya started to sob.
"Nya, it's good to see you." Lloyd smiled. "Even if you do fight innocent dragons now."
"Innocent?" Nya repeated, pulling away from her niece. "Those dragons have been attacking the Cragling village."
"Oh, uh, that, uh." Lloyd stutters. "Does shed new light on the situation."
"I'll say. Who taught you to just leap into a fight like that?" Nya imminently started to scold. "Definitely not Master Wu."
"Aunty Nya! Where's dad!?" Raya desperately asked, getting in front of a stuttering Lloyd. "Where's dad? Is he here!? Please say yes!"
For a split second, Nya looked ready to break, but the look quickly faded as she turns to Arin and Sora. "Hi, I'm Nya. Lloyd and I go way back, if you can't tell."
Sora smiled a little. "I'm Sora."
"And I'm Arin." Arin smiles. "We're Lloyd's students."
"Sounds likeI missed a lot." Nya turns her attention back to Raya. "Raya." She reaches for the teen's hand. "Is Will with you?"
"No." The red head shook her head. "Aunty." She walks closer to her aunt who looks grim. "Lloyd has been taking good care of me after I found him."
Nya slowly smiles, looking at her niece. "Really?" She turns to Lloyd. "Thank you Lloyd. I know that Kai." She stops herself. "Kai would be very grateful."
Raya frowns. "Aunty, where's … where's dad?"
Nya squeezes her hand. "Follow me." She instructs, looking at Lloyd. "We need to update the Cragling leader."
XxXxXxXxXxXx
They arrive at the Craglings' dwelling. " Ninja Nya, our beloved champion. Who do you bring to our gates?"
"King Crag-Nor, this is my niece Raya, my friend Lloyd and his students." Nya introduced.
"Ah, they are Ninja like you. Then they joined our side in battle?"
"Well, uh … no. They actually fought against us and messed everything up. But I've straightened them out."
"Mm, I see. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to accept others for their flaws and." He stops short when he sees Riyu hiding behind Arin. "Why is that foul thing here?!"
"He's our friend, and teammate!" Arin exclaimed, defending the baby.
"You are fools to trust such a creature. Dragons are treacherous. And none are welcome in this village."
"If Riyu doesn't go in, we don't go in." Sora said, coming up to stand next to Arin.
Nya turns to the creatures. "Wise king, if this creature travels with my niece and friends, then I can vouch for him."
"Hmm. Ninja Nya defends us in our time of need. Since she speaks up for the beast, it may enter." He takes out one of his eyes. "But it should beware, our eyes shall be on it." He pops his eyeball into his mouth, eating it, before it reappears in its eye socket, causing Lloyd to gag.
Nya looks at Lloyd. "Sorry. The Craglings can be pretty dramatic."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The enter the dwelling.
"Welcome, friends of Ninja Nya, to an authentic Cragling feast." The king said as they sit at stone tables. Lloyd, Nya and Raya at one table, while Arin and Sora are at another one.
Riyu attempts to eat, but a Cragling pushes him away.
"Filthy dragons can't eat here." The creature told the baby.
"He maybe a dragon, but he's still a baby." Raya told the creature as Riyu rested his head in her lap, and she petted him.
Large bowls of mud like soup are set in front of each of the humans.
"This is the finest feast in the Kingdom of Madness. We used to call our home the Realm of Madness. But then, of course." The king starts, then trails off.
"The Merge." Lloyd nods. "Nya, is this where you woke up when it hit?"
She shook her head. "No. A lot happened to me after the Merge." She looks at Raya, and pats her hand, then looks back at Lloyd. "But now's not the time to get into all those stories. Just know I woke up alone, pretty far from here, and started to work my way back home." She explained. "And then one day, I saw something. After the Merge, The Realm Of Madness ended up next to whatever realm Earth Dragons came from. The dragons found a field of Cragling mud that, when they ate it, gave them great powers, making them larger, fiercer."
"The field Ninja Nya speaks of is no regular mud. It is a sacred area, burial ground to our ancestors." The king added.
Arin and Sora gag.
"That's not where this mud is from." Nya told them, making the two breath a sigh of relief.
"The mud the dragons are stealing, it's the source of our life energy, our very essence." The king continued.
"So they get their power from some external source?" Sora asks.
"That's why the Craglings are crumbling and breaking apart. The dragons are stealing their life force." Nya explained, gesturing to some creatures, who started to fall apart. "Kai, searching the lands, stumbled into this conflict, and of course, got involved."
"That's dad." Raya giggled.
"We were sure we could put a stop to this, so we came up with a battle plan." Nya continued. She reached for Raya's and as she continued her story and explained what happened to kai. "I needed help. I sent the Bounty on autopilot towards the Monastery, hoping someone was there."
"Kai's." Lloyd trailed off when Raya choked on a sob. "Gone?"
Nya tried to whip her tears. "I searched everywhere for him. I don't want to lose hope, but it's hard not to."
"Dad." Raya choked.
Nya squeezes her hand. "We will find him, Raya. He's here somewhere, we just need to continue looking."
"But if you couldn't find him." Raya looks at her aunt. "What makes you think all of us can?"
"Raya, this isn't about saving the Cragling." She turns to look at Lloyd. "It's about taking down the dragons that destroyed my brother."
Suddenly Kai's scream is heard in the distance.
"We can all help." The green Ninja told her. "Sora and Arin are training to become Ninja. Sora has elemental powers, and Arin taught himself a strange form of Spinjitzu."
Nya turns to Arin in shock. "You can't teach yourself Spinjitzu." She turns back to Lloyd.
"I know. But he did. My students are new, but they're good and ready to fight. Kai was your brother." Lloyd turns to Raya. "He was your father. But he was also one of my best friends." Kai's screams is now in the background like he's suddenly close. "It's almost as if I can hear Kai's cries for help in my head."
"Nya?! Nya!? Help!"
"That is dad!" Raya cried.
"Come on!" Nya cried, they all run for the gates.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Once outside they see Kai, being chased by the large dragons from before.
"Kai!" Nya beams. "You're still alive!"
"I made a terrible mistake!" Kai cried as he ran towards them.
"You brought the dragons right to us?!" Nya yells. "I'm gonna kill you!"
"Ok, now remember: don't just rush in." Lloyd tried to be like his uncle again. "We need a battle pla."-
"Forget that!" Nya interrupts, then charges to fight the dragons, just as Kai reaches the gate.
"Oh, hey, Lloyd! When'd you get here?" The fire Ninja smiles at him. "And who are the kids? You babysitting or something?"
"Lloyd doesn't have to babysit me anymore." Raya said as she walked up to stand next to Lloyd, an Kai stares at her.
"Wh - who … Raya?" Kai stutters. "No … no way, you can't be my Raya."
"I'm so sorry!" Raya sobs, tackling kai and nearly sending him falling backwards. "I'm so sorry for what I said! You're a great dad! The best! And your my dad!" She sobbed, Kai held her tightly.
"I know you are." He said gently.
"Uh, not to break up this heartwarming Kodak moment." Lloyd interrupts, making the father and daughter pull away from their hug and look at the blonde. "But we need to help Nya."
"Right." Kai nods. "Gotta help my sis."
"Go, kick their tails dad!" Raya cheered. "And show the newbies what the Ninja can do!"
Kai wink at her before he and Lloyd start to help Nya fight. But their fight ends up embarrassing.
"This is what trained Ninja warriors are suppose to look like?" Sora questions.
"Ya know Sora, I'm getting pretty irritated with you dissing on my family!" Raya said hotly. "So stop it!"
Arin is quick to her side. "It's been a long time since they were together." He told Sora. "Come on!" He runs to help the fight, Raya right behind him.
XxXxXxXxXx
The fight with the dragons is grim. Until Riyu approaches the dragons and glows. "Is your dragon siding with them?" Nya questions Arin.
Riyu and the other dragons start to glow.
"We gotta stop him!" Kai exclaimed, his fist starts to glow with fire as he stretches his arm out.
"No." Lloyd is quick to stop him, lowering Kai's arm down and Kai's fire disappears. "This might not be what it looks like."
A bright light starts to blind everyone. "He's overloading them!" Sora yells. "Get down!"
The Ninja turn and run to hid behind a large builder, just before a shockwave of energy passes through the realm and the Ninja all poke their head out from around the boulder and watch the large dragons leave.
The Ninja run over to Riyu who collapsed to ground.
"What's happening?" Kai asks.
"The energy the Earth Dragons consumed. It burst out of them and is returning to the sacred field." Nya answered as the fallen Craglings awaken.
"The sacred life force! Ninja Nya and her friends saved us!"
Nya shook her head. "It wasn't us." She gestures to Riyu. "It was him."
The creature king approaches. "A … a dragon? A dragon saved us?"
Arin knelt down next to Riyu. "He doesn't look so good." He said, just before the baby collapses.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
That night. Raya is sitting alone on the deck of the Destiny's Bounty. Kai, Nya and Lloyd watch her.
"Wow." Kai breathed, watching his daughter. "My, my baby isn't my baby anymore." He said sadly.
"She's still your baby, big brother." Nya said, looking at him. "Go, talk to her."
"She missed you Kai." Lloyd told him, patting him on the back. "She wants nothing more then to reunite with both you, Skylor and the others." Lloyd turns to Nya. "You go too Nya." He said.
The siblings look at each other, then walk down over to Raya, the siblings sit on either side of the red head, making her smile and taking their hands as she rests the side of her head on Kai's shoulder.
The three were quiet for a long moment, till Raya broke it. "Dad? The is the longest grounding that you ever gave me."
Nya giggled, then laughed as Kai chuckled, and Raya smiled as she held both of them. She now knew that everything was going to be ok, now that her has her dad and aunt back.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
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