He was standing in the middle of a field shrouded in cold gray mist. He gazed all around him and found no signs of other life. No rabbits bounded over the grass. No deer stood grazing. No foxes—why was he thinking of foxes?—peeked their heads up over the knee-length grass. He felt as if he was the only living creature around. The eeriness of it all made him shiver with fear.
Suddenly behind him, he heard a voice call his name. "Lloyd." He turned around suddenly and gasped as he saw the one person he thought he might never see again.
"Master Wu!" he cried out with tears of joy, rushing over to embrace his master—his uncle—his friend. Wu gladly returned the embrace. It seemed to Lloyd that several moments passed as he just stood there, hugging the one person he had missed the most during his time alone in the Dojo of Spinjitzu. He never wanted this moment to end, but he knew it could not last forever. He slowly and sadly pulled away from Wu.
"Where have you been? We've been looking all over the Merged Realms for you!"
"Uh, Merged Realms?" Wu questioned.
"Oh, yeah—you've missed a lot in the time since the…what did you call it? The Coalescence?" Lloyd asked, feeling awkward as he did.
The look on Wu's face darkened. "Ah, yes. The Coalescence. The one thing I hoped could be prevented."
"Yeah, anyway, everyone else nicknamed it the Merge—hence the Merged Realms." Lloyd said as he scratched the back of his neck self-consciously.
"I see." Wu replied. Then his face took on a serious look. "My time here is short, but this is the only way I can communicate with you right now. Listen closely, Lloyd." At that, Lloyd looked Wu straight in the eye, intently listening to everything that Wu said next.
"Time is running out. You must discover the secrets of the Merge before it's too late. More importantly, you must be ready to guide your new students through whatever challenges may come."
"I'm—I'm trying, Master Wu." Lloyd stammered. "But it seems their abilities are growing faster than I can keep up with."
"You are facing some of the same challenges I faced when training you." Lloyd suddenly remembered all the times when his power had grown significantly—when he first discovered he could control all four Elements of Creation, when he used the Tomorrow's Tea, when he unlocked Golden Power, when his power began to change after Master Wu was lost in the timestream, even when he had unlocked his Oni Form. He was jerked out of his thoughts by Master Wu telling him, "But there's something else. Toothless is in grave danger—and so are many others."
"Toothless?" Lloyd questioned.
"The dragon who saved you—the dragon who was healed by your power. It is he that faces great risk."
Lloyd silently gulped. If what Master Wu meant was that the Claws of Imperium knew about Toothless, then—No, he would not let that happen! He could not!
"Wha—what do I do?"
"There's only one thing you can do—protect him. But in order for you to do even that, you must follow my kitsune. He will guide you on the right path."
"Kitsune? What's a kitsune?" Lloyd asked. Suddenly the scenery began to fade into a bright white light. Wu was quickly shrouded by the fog. "Master Wu!" Lloyd cried out, not wanting this to happen.
"Follow my kitsune, Lloyd! The realms depend on it!" Wu cried out before the mist swallowed him completely. Lloyd suddenly felt very drowsy, and his eyes closed as he fell to the ground.
When Lloyd opened his eyes, he found that he was lying on his back beneath the oak tree. His head did not hurt as intensely as it did before, and his vision and hearing seemed to be back to normal. He wondered if the concussion he'd suffered could have cleared up already. Then he wondered how long he'd been lying there. Hours? Days? Then another question came to his mind. Could meeting Master Wu have all been a dream? Lloyd immediately shook his head. No—it had to be something more.
Follow my kitsune, he seemed to hear as he lay there. But what in all the Merged Realms was a kitsune? Suddenly he heard a rustle in the bushes. He abruptly jerked his head upward and immediately regretted it as a sharp pain shot through his forehead. Apparently, the concussion was still affecting him even though most of the pain was gone.
As he looked, he saw what looked like a fox standing just a few feet away from him. But this was no ordinary fox. Its fur was a golden sheen, glistening in the sunlight. Its ears were sharply pointed and much larger than a normal fox's. Its bright blue eyes stared deeply at him, as if it could see into his innermost being. But what struck Lloyd as odd the most was the fox's three tails, golden with white tips.
Could this be a kitsune? Lloyd thought. As if it had understood what he was thinking, the fox gave a slight nod.
"Did you just nod at me?" Lloyd ventured out loud. The kitsune—for that was indeed what it was—nodded again.
"Are you Master Wu's kitsune?" Yet another nod.
"Can you lead me to Toothless?" In response, the kitsune turned and bounded a few feet away before turning back to look at Lloyd. Lloyd realized that this must be the kitsune's way of saying, Follow me.
He stood slowly, trying not to trigger another burst of pain. Then he headed towards the kitsune, who suddenly turned around and broke into a run. Lloyd soon found that he really had to hustle to keep up with the swift foxlike creature. "Slow down!" he cried out to it. "I can't run as fast as you!" But the kitsune just kept running.
A wave of dizziness forced Lloyd to stop and rest beside a nearby tree. Now he had no idea how he'd catch up. The kitsune was long gone, and Lloyd was alone once more. As he stood there, trying to catch his breath and waiting for the dizzy spell to pass, he suddenly heard a sound that froze his blood.
A young girl crying for help.
Dojo of Spinjitzu
"Are you sure there's no way we can help?" Ranger asked worriedly as he and the other team members stood looking at the unconscious Twinkle laying on the floor.
"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." Andrew replied. "This is just a risk of being connected. There's nothing we can do except wait for her to—"
At that moment, Twinkle stirred and let out a soft moan. "Wait!" Andrew exclaimed. "I think she's waking up!"
Sure enough, Twinkle slowly opened her eyes. She didn't even have enough time to blink before the pups all rushed at her in relief that she was okay.
"Whoa, back up, guys." Chase exclaimed. "Give her some room to breathe, will you?"
"Whoops, sorry. Sorry about that." the pups exclaimed as they did what Chase said.
"What…what happened?" Twinkle whispered. "Why does my head hurt so much?"
"You took quite the fall, sis." Andrew replied.
"Lloyd was really, really hurt, wasn't he?" Twinkle exclaimed.
"We think so." Ranger piped up, relieved that Twinkle was okay. For a second there, he had thought that they had just lost their leader—at least temporarily.
"Oh, my head." Twinkle groaned, holding a paw to her forehead. "It feels like someone shoved a bowling ball in my ear."
At that remark, Hiccup flinched. Ranger thought to himself that even though Hiccup probably did not know what a bowling ball was, he probably could infer enough to know that Twinkle was definitely in a lot of pain.
"How long was I out?" Twinkle asked, still holding her head.
"Only a few seconds." Marshal replied, coming over to check on her. While he was primarily the team's Fire Ninja Pup, he still used his first-aid skills from time to time. He looked Twinkle over and replied, "No sustained injuries as far as I can tell. But you should probably get some rest during the mission. Andrew, can you cover for Twinkle while she's recovering?"
"You can count on me!" Andrew replied. Ranger inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. At least Marshal wasn't pulling Twinkle out of the mission completely. He and the others needed her on this quest—headache or not.
"All right, everyone!" Andrew proclaimed. "Let's get this mission started! We've got a ninja and dragon to find!"
Everyone cheered at that. Ranger bounced up and down a little, trying hard to contain his excitement. With the Dragon Riders, the Ninja, and the Ninja Pups working together, Lloyd and Toothless would be found and brought back home in no time!