FIRE TEAM

The air was filled with the sound of frantic pitter-patters as Kijo bounded over fallen trees and rocks in his desperate search for the lost Fire Ninja Pup. His legs burned, and his heart was pounding like the reverberations of a gong as his gaze nervously darted from side to side. Only one thought—one continuously pulsing thought—kept him from skidding to a stop right then and there. Gotta find Marshal. Gotta find Marshal.

Oh, where could that Dalmatian be? He shouldn't have flown too far when they'd crashed. They'd been going fast, but not that fast. So why was he nowhere to be found?

He wondered if he should try using his wings again. He could certainly cover more ground if he was up in the sky. But he shook his head vigorously. Given how his last attempt at flying had turned out, it was simply too risky to try again right now. He couldn't rely on Hiccup to help him out if he got shot down again—by Claws of Imperium or otherwise.

Yet who knew it could be so hard to find one singular, ridiculously-clumsy Mighty Pup? As he ran, he tried calling Marshal's name again. "Marshal!" he cried before skidding to a stop in the middle of the trail. No response. "Marshal!" he tried again, walking just a few steps more. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention to what was directly in front of him, until—"OW!" he yelped as one of his dragon wings wound up snagged on the branch of a bush. With a heavy heart, he realized he couldn't pull away without running the risk of tearing his wing in two.

He was stuck.

"Stupid, useless things!" he muttered under his breath. "How am I supposed to get out of this one?!" Suddenly, the fur on the back of his neck stood straight up, and his nerves tensed involuntarily as the sound of approaching footfalls greeted his ears. His breathing became shallow, and his heart raced as he heard a rustling coming from some nearby bushes. Oh, how he wished he could move—how he longed to be able to pull away! But all he could do was watch in trepidation as the footpads grew closer and the rustling grew louder.

Then, as a scream threatened to burst out of him, there came the whoosh of someone flying through the air, a cry of "LOOK OUT!", and a very loud "OOMPH!" as a mysterious figure crashed headlong into Kijo. His wing was jerked out of the bush so quickly that he found himself and the figure tumbling over and over on the ground until they both crashed into a huge clump of brush.

Kijo groaned as he shakily stood. He teetered about dizzily for a few seconds before flopping down again, shaking his head vigorously to clear the blurriness from his vision. Beside him, the figure who had crashed into him was also trying to ward off his own dizziness. And when Kijo could see straight again, he couldn't help but notice that the figure was actually a werepuppy.

An albino werepuppy.

Could it be?

Then the werepuppy slowly turned around to face Kijo, and the Flame Ninja Pup's mouth fell wide open as he caught the glimpse of two twinkling amber irises.

There was only one albino werepuppy he knew of who had amber-colored eyes.

"D-Dhuan?" Kijo stammered in confusion. The werepuppy's mouth dropped open immediately, as he recognized Kijo's voice and trick of speech instantly. "Kijo?" he asked in the same wonder. Then both exclaimed at the exact same time, "What are you doing here?" Instantly, the two burst into gales of laughter as they realized they'd spoken at the same time. And before Kijo could stop himself, he'd rushed at Dhuan and tackled him in a great big pup hug. The two rolled over and over in the grass, giggling with happiness at how, after all this time, they were together again. Finally, Kijo rolled off of Dhuan and the two proceeded to lay on their stomachs in the grass, just looking at each other in amazement and joy.

"Where have you been, cuz?" Kijo asked with a gleeful laugh. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I never expected to see you, either!" Dhuan replied. "That sandstorm we went through was definitely a doozy!"

"Yeah, it sure was." Kijo agreed. Then his face fell with confusion. "So, what are you doing here, anyway?"

At that, Dhuan's face took on a look of embarrassment—or was it shame? Kijo couldn't really tell which, but he definitely could tell that Dhuan was disturbed about something. "What's wrong, Dhuan?" he asked in a tone laced with worry. "Did something happen to you after we got separated?"

The albino werepup hesitated, trembling uncontrollably as he searched for an answer. Finally, he softly replied, "Yes, well, sort of. I…" He gave a small gulp and then continued, "Um, Kijo, if I tell you a secret, can you promise me you won't tell anyone? I…I don't want everyone to know."

"Depends on the secret." Kijo answered. "But yeah, if it's not too dangerous, then I…I won't tell anyone."

Dhuan's breaths grew strangely shuddery as he squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to calm his nerves. The fear and anxiety written all over his cousin's face worried Kijo. He had never known Dhuan to be so timid before—and it had him severely on edge.

"I…" the wolf-like pup finally stammered, "I'm not the same pup you remember me as, Kijo. Things have…changed since we got separated. I have changed. I…I'm different now. I've got different skills, different abilities—unusual abilities, some of which I'm not proud of."

Something about Dhuan's tone made Kijo even more nervous than before. What exactly had happened to his cousin to make him like this? His answer came a moment later when Dhuan took a deep breath and added, "If I show you my secret, will you promise not to tell?"

Not sure what he should do, Kijo nodded. But what he saw next was not what he was expecting at all. Before he could even blink, Dhuan's paws suddenly lit up with a smoky gray color, and the pup suddenly vanished in a plume of smoke.

"Dhuan?" the Flame Ninja Pup asked, his gaze darting all around him. A tap on his shoulder startled him, and he leaped forward with a small yelp before realizing that Dhuan had been standing right behind him.

"Right here, Kijo." the werepup exclaimed as Kijo not-so-smoothly whirled around and stumbled backwards.

"You're an Elemental Pup of…Smoke?" the Flame Ninja Pup asked, astonished.

"Yeah." Dhuan answered. "And I'm not exactly thrilled with that."

"Are…are you kidding?" Kijo added, his voice throbbing with excitement. Now his cousin had powers just like he did! What wasn't there to be thrilled about? But at the look on Dhuan's face, Kijo could feel his excitement fading away from him.

Yet one question still echoed in his mind.

What's up with Dhuan?

Kai couldn't focus—try as he might. He was supposed to be working on fixing the rotor for the Bounty's engine, but he quickly found that it's nearly impossible to fix anything when your alertness is out of whack. He just felt so tired…and he didn't know why.

To make matters worse, the pain that had settled in his chest earlier kept coming back every time he got close to any sort of electrical device. The ache—and the distraction it had caused him—had been so bad before that Twinkle had pulled him out of working on the broken dashboard and set him to work on the engine. "Less chance of you being fried and crispy Kai." she had said. But no matter what he did, he simply couldn't seem to shake the pain—or the uneasiness that came with it. Once again, he found himself wondering, What is wrong with me?! Why do I feel like this? So many questions, but no answers.

Maybe…maybe a brisk walk would whip his alertness back into shape. It wouldn't take too long, he was sure. Not bothering to tell the others where he was going, he quickly closed up the engine compartment and slipped over the side of the ship when no one was looking. The moment his feet hit the ground, he started to doubt whether this had been a good decision. But it was too late to change his mind now. Quietly and quickly, he raced away from the ship and into the woods.

The moment he ducked underneath the cool, leafy canopy of the forest, he felt much better. And as he walked softly over roots and rocks, he found his senses engaged in a way that they had never been before—not even as a Ninja. The melodic whistling of the chickadees, the rhythmic tapping of woodpeckers, and the poignant calls of bluejays harmonized in a beautiful mesh of intricate birdsong. Squirrels and chipmunks darted up trees. Rabbits and deer peered silently at the red-robin figure that had entered their sanctuary. The air was clear and fresh and sweet, and it calmed Kai's tense nerves when he breathed it deeply in. And when a soft, warm wind tenderly caressed his frame and ruffled his spiky brown hair, he could feel the pounding of his heart begin to settle down.

All was peaceful—all was calm.

And then suddenly, it was not.

The calm was suddenly shattered by the sound of an arrow whooshing through the air, swishing past Kai's ear and embedding itself in a tree with a piercing thwonk. His attention snapped into full-on alert mode, and his eyes darted fearfully around as he heard the sound of someone—or perhaps a whole team of someones—coming towards him. As the echo of footsteps grew louder and louder, Kai froze in absolute fear. He could feel his panic spiking again as the footfalls came closer and closer to him.

And then, he totally lost it—bolting away as fast as he could with a shrill scream. As he made a break for it, more arrows came in droves of deadly volleys. Keeping his head down, he scurried away as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't think that he should be heading the other way—he didn't bother to keep an eye on where he was headed. All he knew was that he simply had to get away from here.

Then he stumbled and fell as an arrow sliced through the right shoulder of his gi. He could feel a small (though not serious) stream of blood pouring down his right arm, soaking his suit as it went. To this day he will never know how exactly he managed to clamber to his feet again before his mysterious pursuers could grab him. But that wasn't even the least of his worries.

Dizziness began to cloud his mind, as his vision blurred and his hearing started to dull. An odd sleepiness and numbness began to trickle through his veins, seeping into every fiber of his being until he could barely go on. His pace began to falter—his strength, to drain away from him. He struggled to put one foot in front of the other, as his strangely weary, fuzzy mind somehow grasped that the arrowhead had been laced with a tranquilizer fluid. His muscles relaxed—his nerves loosened up—and when he then tripped over a rock, tumbling headlong into a deep pit, he had no more vigor or strength left in him.

And when he hit bottom, his eyelashes flickered shut, and his head slowly fell to one side as mysterious shadows of unnatural slumber drew him under, pulling him away from the waking world…

A few moments later, a young black-haired thirteen-going-on-fourteen-year-old girl with an unusual streak of white hair clambered her way into the pit she had spotted the strange red-clad figure fall into. She had realized something was up when he'd been ambushed like that. And now that she had succeeded in scaring those evil Hunters off with her near-deadly archery skills, she knew that she had to help this figure—whom those creeps clearly meant no good to.

Dropping to the bottom, she squinted in the semidarkness, struggling to decipher the physical characteristics of her charge. From what she guessed, he had to be in his early twenties, and he had porcupine-like brown hair and was wearing a red gi.

Could it be? A closer look gave her the answer. Fearful that she might be seeing things, she crouched down quickly and laid one nervously trembling hand on his forehead.

The scar was indeed there.

And as the figure's chest slowly rose and fell under the influence of his deep, tranquil sleep, the girl took a shuddery breath, her starry violet eyes widening as she mouthed the one name she'd never thought she'd hear or speak again.

"Kai."