Three hours later
Ewald flew high above the treetops of the Sanctuary Forest, on the lookout for the Hunter army. As the Prime Minister of the Eagles, he had been designated emergency patrol duty while the others prepared for the imminent attack. In all honesty, he much preferred negotiations to skirmishes. But this, he guessed, was what happened when you're the leader of any tribe—you end being put on lookout duty when you're expecting a battle of any sort. He flapped his wings to ascend for a better view. Then his scouting brought results. He could see the whole Hunter army advancing through the forest.
"Jackpot!" he said to himself before circling back to the city. Thankfully, he was way up here and they were way down there where they couldn't see him.
He flew back to the Lion City as fast as his wings could carry him and had a rather rough landing in front of the Lion Gate, where Laval and a portion of his army stood waiting for any sign of attack. "They're coming, Laval!" the Eagle stammered. "They're coming—with weaponth and numberth greater than our own!"
(Ewald happened to have a bit of a lisp, which became more severe whenever he got nervous or frightened.)
"Numbers don't win a battle, Ewald." Lupo exclaimed.
"Yeah," Laval muttered nervously, "but they do help."
"Let's just hope that everyone's ready to face those Hunters." Li'Ella replied, trying desperately to hide how frightened she really was. On the outside she may have had a calm composure, but inside she was trembling with fear. One Hunter had been bad enough, but the thought of a whole army coming for them made Li'Ella gulp in fright.
Even the Ninja, Ninja Pups, and Dragon Riders were experiencing last-minute jitters. And who could blame them? This mission, which had seemed so simply at the beginning, was quickly spiraling out of their control, and they had no way to stop it! All they could do was just stand there, holding their breath as the enemy quickly fell into formation at the edge of the forest.
"Li'Ella," Laval whispered, "get up on the wall with the archers. They may need your help."
"I'm on my way." Li'Ella replied before heading back inside the city. Then Laval turned back to the scene before him.
For a few nerve-wracking moments, both sides just stood there, staring at each other, waiting for one army or the other to make any sort of move. Lupo's heart pounded with anxiety and suspense. It seemed the two armies would never stop simply sizing each other up. Then, faintly in the distance, the forces of Chima waiting there outside the gate saw the Hunters' general give the command to charge.
The ground shook with the thundering of the Hunters' charging towards them with an ear-piercing battle cry. The faces of the CHImaera paled as they realized just how much at a disadvantage they were. But Lagravis acted quickly to keep the troops from either rushing headlong into battle too quickly or turning tail and fleeing altogether. "Hold the line." he commanded.
The Hunters were drawing closer to the gate of the city.
"Hold the line." Laval echoed.
Closer. Closer.
"Hold the line!" Lupo repeated.
The Hunters were almost upon them—
"NOW!" Lagravis, Laval, and Lupo all yelled at the same time. With that, the CHImaera charged forward to meet their foes. As they ran, the CHImaera all pulled out orbs of blue CHI, and the Hunter army was suddenly greeted by a sea of blue avatars popping up and then fading away. Laval then cried out, "Fight for each other! Fight as one! FOR CHIMA!"
(Man, I never get tired of using that phrase, the Lion Prince thought to himself.)
The battle had officially begun.
Clangs of swords and cries of courage rang through the air as the CHImaera fought to defend their home. The Land team helped by doing whatever they could to drive the invaders back. Hiccup and Astrid pulled out swords Laval had given them and started disarming as many Hunters as they could. Rex used his wheel support and dino powers to his advantage. Kito and Arin harnessed Object Spinjitzu, throwing as many rocks as they could towards the Hunters (not to hurt them, but to slow them down as much as possible). Kirby was busy teaching the Hunters a valuable lesson about never messing with a werepuppy. As for Rubble, well, the Hunters learned firsthand what happens when you're fighting against a pup who can really pack a punch—Earth Punch, that is!
A Hunter was suddenly surprised when Mallik, in full battle array, managed to trip him in his tracks. The Hunter found himself eye-level with the feisty Mouse Captain. "You're a…a mouse." he exclaimed in unbelief.
"You people—have no —imagination!" Mallik retorted before knocking said Hunter out—with the hilt of his own sword.
Lupo, it was soon realized, could clearly hold his own in a fight. He was disarming Hunters left and right with his CHI-power. Not even the toughest warriors in black could stand a chance against the speed, strength, and strategizing capabilities of this pup who definitely had more to him than met the eye.
Then, after disarming a few dozen Hunters, Rubble and Cole suddenly looked at each other and knew they both had the same crazy idea.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Cole asked.
"I thought you'd never ask!" Rubble replied before cheering, "It's mech time!"
Cole pulled out his Mech disk made of pure Chronosteel. When he activated his powers and tossed the disk into the air, it suddenly transformed into his Elemental Mech—a mech that could channel his Earth Powers. He jumped into it and immediately began knocking back Hunters trying to swarm him from all sides.
Then it was Rubble's turn. He leaped into the air, causing two Hunters to collide with each other in the process.
"MIGHTY DISK, POWER UP!"
The Mighty Disk on his suit suddenly lit up with a yellow light, the same color as his powers. Swirls of light shot out from it and surrounded the bulldog as he obtained his own version of the Elemental Mech. In a matter of seconds, Rubble was floating in the zero-grav chamber located at the top of his very own Pup-Mech.
By moving his legs in the same moves he used for Pup-Fu, he was able to make the Mech punch and kick incoming Hunters. He then slammed a paw down, and the resulting quake knocked several Hunters backward.
"Did I ever tell you how much I love this thing?" he asked Cole.
"I feel the exact same way!" Cole replied.
As the battle wore on, the Hunters seemed to realize that while they had more troops, the combined forces of the Dragon Riders, the Ninja, the Ninja Pups, the CHImaera, and the CHI-wielder Lupo were becoming more than they could handle. Their advance started to slow down significantly, giving the defenders of Chima an opportunity to advance.
"The plan's working!" a CHI-powered Laval exclaimed to his father. "We're slowing them down!"
"Yes, my son," Lagravis replied, "but not enough! We must continue to push them back—before that eclipse hits!"
Then it happened. The sky began to darken as one of the Merged Realm's two moons began blocking out the sun's rays. Both armies stopped fighting for a moment and looked up as more and more daylight disappeared. In a matter of moments, the sun had completely vanished from their sight.
"Oh no!" the Land team all shrieked at the same time. The Hunters, on the other hand, took the opportunity to all pull out something from under their robes. That something was a purply-black orb of energy. As he watched, Lupo recognized the orb right away.
"NIGHT CHI!" he shrieked. But it was too late. Every Hunter in that army raised their orbs into the air and plugged them before anyone could respond. A sea of giant purplish-black avatars glowed in the semi-darkness before disappearing. Then the general spoke.
"Hunters, attack! Spare no one!"
The Hunters immediately did as commanded. The army of Chima, with their friends from Ninjago and Berk, tried desperately to fight back, but the leading Hunter had been correct when he had said the CHImaera would be no match for the power of the Night CHI.
In that moment, Lupo realized that he had been wrong before. The initial advance had been nothing but a skirmish. Now things had changed.
The tables had turned on his friends.
The real battle had just begun.
And the worst thing he could have ever said in that moment was now coming true.
"We're losing!"
Cole and Rubble came charging towards the Hunters, hoping that their mechs might stand a chance against the Hunters and their Night CHI. But the Night CHI had made the Hunters stronger, smarter, and faster than they were before. Several Hunters suddenly leaped onto both of the mechs, trying to knock Cole and Rubble out of them.
"Hey, hands off my mech!" Rubble protested. He attempted to literally shake off his attackers by shaking as he would if he were soaked by rain. But they had a surprisingly strong grip for a bunch of inexperienced fighters. Then Cole shouted, "Look out!" before one Hunter punched the disk in the center of Rubble's Pup-Mech. Another Hunter did the same to Cole's.
Cole and Rubble gasped in horror simultaneously as the disks began to shoot out sparks. The Mech controls were malfunctioning! Then, without warning, the two mechs completely deactivated, reverting to their disk forms. And the Earth Ninja and his connector found that they seemed to be hovering in midair, just as a cartoon character might do when he runs off a cliff by accident.
"Uh-oh!" the two said at the same time before plummeting to the ground. When they hit the ground, Rubble shook his head to get rid of a dizzy spell before Cole turned to him and said, "Not. A. Word."
"Agreed." Rubble replied.
Suddenly, Rubble let out a scream as a Hunter suddenly appeared right in front of him! Before he could even blink, the Hunter added another orb of Night CHI to his harness. As he Chi'd up, the ground began to shake violently. Cole's head suddenly ached, and his eyes began to water.
Oh, no, he thought to himself—before it happened.
Hot tears swarmed his eyes as wave after wave of excruciating pain battered his body. He could hear Rubble whimpering beside him as he too sensed it. The Night CHI was beginning to affect the land.
And the land was reacting accordingly.
Worst of all, Cole and Rubble both could feel it.
And not just feel it—but hear it too. A piercing shriek flooded Cole's mind, causing his ears to tingle. It was as if the earth itself was crying out against this horrendous misuse of CHI.
In the past, Cole had been able to disguise how much pain this experience put him through. But today he couldn't keep it in anymore. Without warning, right there in the middle of the battlefield, the Earth Ninja let out an anguished scream.