Chapter 32: Reunion and Capture

"So, where do you want to go first?" Coral inquired as they

walked. Cinder pondered on where to go. The group

walked from the fountain to the trade booths after asking a

few questions on the purple dragonet on what he had

learned. During the walk through the city Cinder was

getting attention as being the only member out of the

group not a water dragon. Adults looked at him with

amused curiosity and the younger dragons were in awe of

him. He declined politely when a few older but beautiful

female dragonets asked if he wanted to join them then his

friends. They were disappointed and glared at the dark red

and blue dragons as Cinder chatted with them.

"Hmm… I'm curious about the jewelry booth. I want to see

if there's anything intriguing or catches my eye."

Coral smiled and led him over to it. Nya follows as well as

she's curious of what dragon jewelry is compared to

Ninjago. The others split up to look around at the other

booths, Mel and Tsunclaw looking at the weaponry and Ziz

and Hydra looking at the fashion booths. Coming up to the

booth Cinder could see it was manned by an earth

dragoness, her olive green scales shined beautifully in the

sun as the jewelry she wore glistened. Her eyes lit up

when seeing Coral.

"Hello Coral dear. Came to see what I have in my booth?"

"Yes Opal. But my friend here wanted to see what jewelry

you have." Coral laughed and Opal grinned

"Ahh I see. Would you like to introduce them to me, my

dear."

"Of course. Opal, this is Nya and her friend Cinder. I met

her in training earlier today. Me and the others wanted to

go out and explore and ask her to come. She also brought

her friend along to see the sights of the city as well."

"Hehe, I agreed. There are some intriguing spots to see.

But what's intriguing to me is Cinder." Opal noted as she

looked at him with a small smile. "A Purple Dragon, an

amazement to see and such beautiful scales you got. A

rare color that only they get, and what a shame that is.

Purple is such a lovely color."

Cinder blushes in embarrassment as Opal comments on

his scales. She then looked at his mom's jewelry and

smiled.

"Even more so than seeing things from the past. That

jewelry I recognized when I was training to be a jewelry

maker. Those belong to Cynder, companion to Spyro… or

more than a companion I see?"

"Well, more like my mom actually." Cinder said shyly and

Opal eyes lit up in astonishment.

"Really? So they're mates now? That's good to hear." Opal

said happily but sighs sadly. "Hearing what happened to

her and the disdain and scrutiny others gave her was so

disheartening. But Spyro was the closest to know what

happened and was her protector from the hated looks."

"Yes, I had heard others telling me. But others should

know that she was under control of that evil dragon."

Cinder said as the earth dragoness shuddered.

"Oh, that time wasn't great. But let's change the topic. Any

jewelry that peaks your interest?"

Cinder shook his head and searched through the rows of

bracelets, armlets, amulets, leg bracers, tail bracers, and

chokers. Cinder wasn't finding any that wasn't catching his

eyes. Most have too much going on or the design not to

his liking. But after a few more minutes of scavenging at

the jewelry his eyes caught something in the corner of his

vision. Turning his head he saw a set of jewelry, choker,

bracers, and tail, all in the same silvery color as his

mom's. He picks them up and looks between them and his

and hummed thoughtfully. Nya looked at him.

"You found something Cin?"

"Yeah." He shows the jewelry in hand. "These look sorta

similar to my mom's."

Opal chuckled

"Well, those were made from inspiration from her jewelry.

You want these to preserve your mom's jewelry?"

Cinder shook his head and said they were for his foster

brother. Who's an earth dragon, which Opal nodded with a

smile. The purple dragonet realized he didn't have any

money but Coral spoked up saying she has money. Which

he was grateful for this.

"Have a great day you three! Hope to see ya another

time." Opal said as the three dragonets walked away.

"She's pretty nice." Nya said and Coral nodded.

"She is! My mom usually comes here to look or purchase

her stuff. Opal has a keen sense of detail with her craft

and points out things that we ourselves don't notice."

"I see." Nya said as they walked along the cobbled street.

Other customers mingle at booths looking and purchasing.

Figuring out what to get or leaving to another booth to see

what they have that's cheaper. Others were walking

through the street just enjoying the weather as they

chatted. Nobody paid attention to the 3 dragonets walking

through as they chatted on what's in the marketplace. But

then Cinder felt eyes on him as they walked to the others

who were at the fashion booth. Ziz and Hydra were

looking at clothes while Mel and Tsunclaw looked bored.

Coral sniggered.

"Couldn't get any armor or weapons from the weaponry

booth?"

Both male water dragons grumbled in annoyance.

"Altas wouldn't allow us AGAIN because we're too young

to wield them. Would be helpful if we can't use our breaths

or too low on it to get energy crystals." Mel said with

another growl.

"Reason why we learn hand-to-hand combat from Master

Terrador. He's very experienced in combat and knows

what's best for us and our future." Coral said

"If you said so." Tsunclaw said and then noticed the

jewelry in Cinder's hold. Seeing his look the purple

dragonet explained that these were for his brother. After

that the 3 male dragons chatted on things the two water

dragons liked to do with Cinder having his say with wood

carving. The girls looked at the options of cloth in the

booth as they chatted on design choices. But then a throat

was cleared and Cinder, Tsunclaw, and Mel looked over to

see who it was. A buff electricity dragonet stood a few feet,

his yellow eyes filled with arrogance and snottiness. At his

sides were two other dragonets, one was an ice

dragoness and the other a shadow dragon. All three stood

and looked at the group with scowls.

"Huh, look at here. The water drenchers, and the purple

dragon. How quaint to see you here." The yellow dragon

sneers

"What do you want Zach? I thought Itzal and Iss were

enough for ya to be friends?" Mel said hotly but the yellow

dragon scoffs.

"I thought the purple dragon could hang around with

someone that's more important than the likes of you 2

water lizards." Zach said cockily

Before Mel or Tsunclaw could retort, Cinder butted in.

"I'm sorry, but who are you to decide who I should be

friends with? You're not my friend and frankly you're an

arrogant prick. So if you mind, I'm having fun with my

friends."

Zach squawked in indignation, glare, and walked off.

Cinder, Mel, and Tsunclaw watched closely as they.

"This isn't over you three!" The yellow dragon retorted as

he and his two lackeys left. Nya, Coral, Ziz, and Hydra

came out from the fashion booth. The 4 dragoness were

confused but Mel and Tsunclaw explained what happened

and the 3 dragoness groaned in annoyance. Nya was

confused but she was filled in by the others and she was

displeased.

"My goodness, he's such an arrogant bully. Has his

parents ever disciplined him?"

"Sadly his father spoiled him a lot and he's a powerful

politician in the city." Hydra said and Cinder huffed in

frustration.

"Ugh, politics. They always get in the way of life. But

moving topics, should we keep going and see what else is

in the city?"

"Sure, let's keep moving then." Ziz replied as the group

moved towards the exit of the marketplace. But

unbeknownst to them Zach watches them with a snarl on

his lips and claws clenching. He turns to his friends.

"Come on, let's follow them. See what they'd do, and

convince that purple dragon to be our friend."

"Well, now the King is coming after you 4 because of the

Purple Dragon." Zephyr said with a stern look on her face.

She, Zane, and Jay have made it to the Dragon Temple in

the swamps. When Copper told her the reason why the

Gryphon King was keen to recapture them she had looked

at them with suspicion.

"Yeah, we're sorry if we didn't say anything earlier. But we

didn't want them to know what my brother could do." Cole

said, rubbing his head sheepishly as they all sat around

the Guardian's council room. It has been 2 days now since

they had escaped the enemy and the group of 6 dragons

were conversing within the safe walls of the Temple.

During those 2 days both elder dragons have taught the

dragonets how to fly and soon they were flying the skies

and doing maneuvering decently but weren't pros like

Copper and Zephyr.

"Well, since you 4 have learned to use your wings. I think

it's best to get to Warfang before any more incidents

occur." Zephyr advised them that they all nodded and

prepared to get ready to take flight. After a few minutes

the group were soon standing on the platform looking out

on the landscape. Each dragon took off and flew in the

sky, the 4 dragonets trailing behind the older dragons as

they knew where the city of dragons were at. Meanwhile a

storm was brewing in the distance behind them, not

realizing that the Gryphons had been watching them from

afar. Having seen Zephyr landing within the swamps. A

scout turned to his general.

"Should we go and ambush them sir?"

"No, let's follow them from a distance. Those 2 big lizards

probably know where the Purple Dragon's at. Then we'll

scan the area around it and report to His Majesty." The

general said and the scout nodded and saluted and

returned to his duty. The general stared at the group of

dragons with hatred.

"You fools are leading us right to our prize."

"So Cinder? How did you meet Nya? I'm curious how the 2

of you are friends?" Hydra asked

Nya rubbed her neck.

"Well it started with our brothers being friends. My brother

is a fire dragon." She said

"And my brother is an earth dragon." Cinder said

"Oh really? Didn't know your brother is a fire dragon Nya.

Thought your whole family were water dragons." Ziz said

but Nya shook her head.

"Nope, dad's a fire dragon and my mom's a water

dragoness." She said but internally sighs in relief with her

response. Her parents weren't dragons per say but they

do control Fire and Water. So she wasn't lying about her

family. Cinder spoke up.

"I was raised by my foster brother's family. Both of them

are earth dragons. With mom being the more experienced

one with her control over earth."

The others nodded to the two dragonets' answers and

went on exploring through the city. There were other

civilians that stared at the purple dragonet but most

ignored it. The group then went around to the statues of

dragons of importance. But the most important landmark

was a massive cannon in the shape of a dragon head on

the ramparts. Mel explained how it was used in the war

against the Dark Master. The statues also had some

significance in the creation of the city with the moles.

"Ok, I'm amazed that the moles did all of… this!" Nya

exclaimed and Ziz laughed

"Yeah, it's impressive that such little guys like them were

able to build this place. But with help from us, it felt more

like a team effort than one race doing all the work."

Before Cinder could say anything there was a yelp as

Coral, Tsunclaw, and Hydra were shoved back by ice

shards hitting them. The others turned to see Zach and his

cronies. Ziz was annoyed.

"What in the Ancestors are you doing!?"

Zach just grin cockily.

"I want to be friends with the Purple Dragon. Not you, you

bogged down snakes, now move aside. We have an

advantage against you all by elemental types so we can

beat you all easily."

Suddenly shadows rose up from the ground as shadowy

fingers grabbed Nya, Ziz, and Mel. Zach laughed gleefully

as he watched the water dragons either held in shadows

or ice. The water dragonets couldn't do anything as Iss's

power over shadows overpowered them and Itzel's ice

was holding the others down. Then Zach charged up an

electricity ball and immediately shot it. It bounced along

the ground before rolling to a stop under Nya, Mel, and

Ziz.

"Let's see if you three can handle the shocks, shall we?"

Zach said with an arrogant grin. Suddenly the ball of

electricity was blown away from the three and it imploded

in a burst of yellow energy bits. Zach turned to see Cinder;

the purple dragonet glared at the yellow dragonet with

hatred and was in a battle stance. Zach's cronies tried to

intervene on the dragonet but Cinder shot an earth flail at

the shadow dragon. Then using his shadow breath he

went below and traveled towards the ice dragoness and

jumped up underneath her. Both of those attacks knocked

out both dragonets, leaving the electricity dragonet

standing and allowing Nya, Mel, and Ziz to be freed. Zach

was flabbergasted.

"W-w-w-w-w-what!? H-how did you defeat my friends so

easily? We have more experience than you."

Cinder snorted

"Well, you're wrong. I actually have more experience than

you. I have full control over my breaths and a few from my

mom. But also this." He then jumps up and spins and a

purple and magenta red tornado appears and goes

towards the yellow dragonet. Zach was frozen in place as

it came towards him. He was sucked in and there was the

sound of punching and shouts of pain as within the

tornado Cinder punched and hit him within and shoved

him out, in which the yellow dragonet laid on the ground

moaning in pain. Cinder stopped doing Spinjitzu and

landed and gave a deadly growl at Zach.

"When someone says no, they mean it. You are a spoiled

brat that wants his way. I won't stand for that nonsense,

especially if they're hurting my friends. Now if you'll

excuse me my friends and I are going to continue

sightseeing. But if you act up once more with my friends I

won't hold back and you'll be in worse shape than before."

Cinder turned and walked over to Tsunclaw, Coral, and

Hydra. Using his fire breath he quickly melts the ice off of

them, then sprays water on them. They woke up from the

wetness.

"Oh…"

"What just happened…?"

"Zach and his cronies attacked us. Cinder took them all

down by himself." Mel explained and the other were

shocked

"Seriously? How? Zach is the most powerful dragonet in

our age group. With his cronies below him, nobody could

go against him because of his magical and fighting skills."

"Well, I'm faster than him. Nya knows that, right?" Cinder

looked at Nya, who was smirking.

"Yes, I know. You were always able to go toe to toe with

others easily."

"Woah." The others said in amazement. Cinder then clears

his throat. Then points to the street.

"Shall we head back to the Temple then? It's getting late

and we don't want to be out in the dark."

Alright you 4, we have arrived at Warfang. We'll walk the

rest of the way because of the sky patrols from the

Gryphons." Copper advised

The group of dragons have taken off from the swamps and

flew across the skies to the city. Taking a few hours to get

there the 2 adults have taken to telling stories of their

youth as dragonets to pass the time during the flight. The

4 dragonets have been trying aerial moves to get

exposure on maneuvering from the enemy or terrain. It

took a few hours before they made it to the outskirts of the

city within the valley. They landed near the cheetah village

and met Chief Prowlus who told them of a purple dragon

with the Fire Guardian, along with two others.

The group made their way to the cave that led to the city.

With nothing else occurring as they went through. Soon

they reached the other side to see the dragon city. The 4

dragonets looked on in astonishment.

"Woah…"

Both adult dragons chuckled at their expression.

"Welcome to Warfang, you 4. We hope you're impressed

by how striking it is. Come, let's get into the city. Hopefully

nothing too bad happened." Copper expressed to the

dragonets. The group then headed down towards the

plateau the city sat on. Going past the farmland they

reached the gates of the city, which they were allowed

entry immediately. Soon they were within the fret of the

city and its crowd. Cole, Kai, Jay, and Zane looked around

at the sights of the city; it was different to Ninjago City.

More medieval with stone buildings, cobbled streets, and

lit lanterns. The civilians took a few looks at them but went

back to their buildings as usual. Jay spoke up.

"This place is intriguing. Very medieval looking, not gonna

lie."

"Yes, the city is old fashioned but the defenses here are

pretty good. Makes the city into a made ship fort. Now,

we're almost to the Temple. Just past these buildings and

we'll be there." Zephyr said

"Hey Lloyd, feeling better now?" Nya asked as they

walked into the Temple. After the small ambush from Zach

and his cronies the group of dragonets returned back to

the Temple. Which where Nya and Cinder said farewell to

their new friends as they head to their homes to rest. Now

the three were sitting in the Guardian's conference room

while the 4 elder dragons discussed what needs to be

done for the civilians.

"I'm ok, but I think Cinder should train me with my powers.

I can't learn from the Guardians as they have zero clue of

my powers."

Cinder nodded and the three just chatted quietly as the

torches lit up when the room became darker as the sun

slowly set in. After that there was a knock at the door and

Ashevwrd went over to it. He answered it as it opened. On

the other side were two adults and 4 dragonets. The Fire

Guardian looked at them quizzically.

"Hello Copper, Zephyr. I thought yo7 2 were going in and

saving the captured in the Gryphons Kingdom?"

"We were but these 4 told us that they escaped the King

and heard what he's planning." Copper explains

Ashevwrd and the other Guardians were in disbelief by

this. Meanwhile Cinder looked at the 4 dragonets, which

the black dragonet looked at and eyes widened.

"Cinder?"

The purple dragonet recognizes and smiles happily.

"Cole!"

Copper and Zephyr watched in amusement as Cole and

Cinder ran and hugged each other. The Guardians were

astonished but smiled seeing the group of dragonets

reunion. After a few minutes of them talking and being

relieved of being together once more Copper cleared his

voice.

"Alright, I believe we need to get back on track with the

Gryphons. Zane, I believe you know most of what the King

said."

Zane nodded and began to tell what he and the others

heard. The king's plans, the weapon, and his goals on

destroying the dragon race. After an hour of telling what

the silver dragonet knew, Terrador signed in dismay.

"This is disturbing to hear, seems Quillsilver's mentality is

off the broken shell. The weapon he's building isn't good,

and could possibly take us all out. But there are other

things he's doing that we don't know. Those captured

could be in danger of being killed." The earth dragon

growled, a deep rumbling came from his throat doing that.

"But we know he needs us to power it, ugh… reminds me

of the war. Getting drained of my magic to be used as a

power source."

"I know you 3 felt how that felt. But the king wants the

Purple Dragon for his magic, it could boost the weapon's

power up to incredible levels." Ashevwrd noted but Zane

shook his head.

"His weapon could be destructive but it could implode."

"Whatever do you mean, young dragon?" Cyril inquired.

"The weapon has a defect within itself. If used too many

times it would overload and implode."

The Guardians looked at each other in fear and worry and

whispered with each other. Jay looked at everyone and

yawned, which caused the other dragonets to yawn as

well. Zephyr chuckled and looked at Copper.

"I'll take them to bed. Dragonets shouldn't be up this late."

Copper nodded and watched as the group of dragonets

followed the wind dragoness out. After a few minutes of

waiting the four Guardians stopped and turned to Copper.

He could tell they were all terrified.

"Ok, you 4. What's the issue? How bad is it?"

Volteer spoke

"With my calculations and knowledge of our race. Our

magic is sensitive and if it was forced out and combined

with another, then if more magics were forced out and

combined as well then—"

Cyril clamped his snout shut, which the yellow dragon

continued speaking muffled. Copper looked at him. Cyril

sighed

"If the weapon implodes, all the combined magic within

would collapse and become a massive ball of

uncontrollable energy that would burst outwards.

Destroying everything in its path till the realms are

vaporized."

Copper was gobsmacked

"B-b-by the Ancestors. This is not bad, this is worse."

"Indeed, which means we need to stop the King before his

weapon is done." Ashevwrd concluded

Unbeknownst to the dragons the enemy has followed

them. The Gryphon General grinned deviously as he and

his squad landed a fair distance from Warfang. It was pitch

black but for the Gryphons it was perfect coverage for the

time being. He turns to a scout.

"Return to the kingdom and tell his majesty that we located

where the Purple Dragon's at. We'll watch here and see

what these lizards are doing against us."

The scout nodded and took off back the way they came.

The General then glares at the city.

"Soon, these lizards will be gone from existence and us

Gryphons will be kings of the skies."

Cinder yawned as he slowly awoke from his slumber. He

rubbed his eyes as he got up and stretched. Looking

around he saw that the others were still asleep, well

except for Zane. The silver dragonet was up and reading a

book. Upon seeing the purple dragonet Zane gave a silent

nod as morning. Getting off the bed he padded over to the

door and waved to him as he exited. But after a few feet

from the room he saw Zane coming out as well and

slowed for him to walk next to him.

"Morning frosty."

Zane crack a small smile

"Morning, I was just reading while waiting for the others to

wake up."

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Don't know if Jay or Lloyd

would accidentally wake the others up." Cinder chuckled

as then a loud noise of electricity was heard and the

shouts of pain, then—

"JAY!"

Both dragonets stopped and looked at each other, stared,

then laughed. They were still chuckling as they entered

the Guardians personal dining area. He and the others

were allowed to eat in there after they explained how they

got here. Which the Guardians were pretty weird out on

but were understanding. As they know what magic could

do and advise not revealing their situation to anyone. So

the group was allowed to be with either the Guardians or

Zephyr and Copper. Coming in the two saw the 4

Guardians sitting already with Zephyr sitting on another

part of the table. The two then sat down as a dragoness

came over to the two, and put platters of meat, fruit, and

water. Cyril nodded.

"Morning, young dragons. It seems the two of you are up

and ready. But I heard shouting."

"That was Jay. His magic went off by accident and woke

the others up." Zane replied and the Ice Guardian nodded

"Such an oddity of your scales, being an Ice dragon and

all. But it suits you because of your heritage."

After he said that the other ninja walked in, Cole and Lloyd

had their fur floof up from static electricity. Cinder sniggers

"You two looked like floof balls rather than dragons."

Cole and Lloyd grumbled as they sat down. Kai, Nya, and

Jay doing the same. After eating breakfast Terrador looked

over the 7 dragonets. He implored Kai, Cole, Jay, and

Zane to practice more on their elemental breaths. While

Cinder, Lloyd, and Nya are with Zephyr while the four

Guardians teach them. Everyone agreed and got up to do

their tasks. Zephyr took the 3 dragonets over to her

quarters.

"Let me grab something and we'll head to a place I have in

mind."

"Ok."

The white dragoness went in and a few seconds later

came out with a few blocks of wood. Then she led them

down the halls to a small training ground with an opened

roof. The 3 dragonets were intrigued by the tranquility of

the garden and turned to the elder dragoness. Zephyr

chuckled.

"Hehe, this place is my personal training and relaxing

area. While the guardians have their own training room, I

have mine." She looked at Lloyd and Nya. "I believed you

two should get to training?"

The two dragonets nodded and went out onto the floor.

Cinder stood at the edge and stared at them, Zephyr

sitting down with her blocks of wood. The purple dragonet

directed the two to show what they learned. Seeing what

needed to be refined he advised the two what issues they

were having, which after a bit both dragonets were doing

attacks so naturally that they somehow knew how to fight.

Cinder smiled and sat next to the wind dragoness as he

knew they were confident enough to not be supervised.

He watched as the elder dragoness used her claws on the

block of wood. She noticed and grinned.

"Are you into carving, young dragon?"

Cinder nodded and the dragoness handed him a block of

wood. The dragonet went to work, whittling, chipping, and

hacking as he went to the wood. After a few hours Nya

and Lloyd came over, both exhausted from the training

they did. Both smiled as they saw both purple dragonet

and dragoness quietly carving wood. They waited a few

minutes for the two to finish up as the wind blew gently

through the trees and small bushes. Cinder put his carving

down, finished. Zephyr doing the same.

"You 2 got enough practice on your elements?"

Both dragonets nodded and the wind dragoneess smile

but then she eyed the purple dragonet's carving. It was

pretty good, the carving depicting a dragon. But it has 4

heads, each with different details on each head. She

commented on it and all 3 told her of a dragon they knew

but haven't seen for a few years. After that they all went

inside the temple, none not noticing a Gryphon scout

watching them undetected.

"Sir! Purple Dragon has been found! They're with that wind

dragoness the other group was following!" The scout said

"Good, scout. I want you to keep watching them and see

how well they're doing in skill. I'll send word to the King to

gather a fleet to ambush the city."

"Understood sir." The scout saluted and took off into the

night. The gryphon grinned with evil glee.

"Finally… this war will be over soon…"

"Ahhhhhhh…" King Quillsilver sighed as he sunk into the

warm bath. His servants have got it filled up and ready for

him for his aching body. He has been busy for the past few

days. Especially the breakout of 4 dragons, dragonets,

which baffled and enraged the king into a frenzy. After

which he sent two groups out to find them but failed as

they returned unsuccessfully with them. But now, another

squad reported that the 4 dragons and the remaining 3,

one being a Purple Dragon, were all in the dragon city.

Now the king lay in his bath and pondered on the info

given.

"I'll need a few members of my army to sneak in during the

battle to capture the purple dragon. If we get the others

then bonus on that. I'll direct this to my army commanders

tonight."

"BOOM!"

Cinder squeaked in alarm and shot up immediately from

his bed as dust fell from the ceiling. Their room shook as

the building was hit by something as thunder rumbled

outside. The purple dragonet looked to see that the others

were woken up by the sound as well and wondering what's

going on. Then they heard shouts of war cries as dragons

were running outside. Cinder opened the door to see

guards sprinting out to the streets and saw Terrador

running up along with the guards. Cinder stopped him.

"Terrador? What's going on?"

"The gryphons. They're here and attacking the city. Me

and most of the army we have are going out to fend them

off."

"Let me help. I'm fully prepared for this—"

"Indeed you are, but your friends and brother aren't. They

need protection and you're the most skilled. Stay here, I'll

inform Zephyr to take you to a safe place from here."

Cinder nodded begrudgingly and watched as the earth

guardian took off towards the exit. He closed the door to

see the other ninja looking at him. Explaining what

Terrador has told him they stayed silent as the battle went

on outside. The temple shook a few times as thunder and

lightning went off throughout. The 7 dragonets thought it

was more a raging storm than a battle but stayed alert as

the door was knocked on a few times. Cinder went to it

and opened a crack, to see the white dragoness.

"Phew! Ancestors you 7 are safe. Come on, Terrador told

me to get you someplace safe."

The 7 dragonets filed out and followed the wind dragoness

closely. Quietly they walked down the halls as dust and

stone rattled from the ceiling. They passed through other

rooms and halls as Zephyr led them down the hall. Then

they went down some stairs and went down underground

as torches lit up the halls. Soon they were padding

through corridors and with them as the house was muffled.

Their footsteps echoed along the stone walls as they went.

Soon Zephyr stopped at a fortified door and turned to

them.

"Ok, this room should be safe for ya till the battle's over.

Hopefully we can win this—"

Suddenly she was hit by a bolt of lightning. They turned to

see a few gryphons standing not far. All looking at them

with grins as they approached slowly. Kai growled

"Shoot! We were followed. I don't know if we can take

these guys on."

"Kai! Jay! Zane! Cole! Grab Zephyr and get her inside the

room. Me, Nya, and Cinder will take on these guys." Lloyd

orders but Jay shakes his head.

"Uhh, I don't think you should go against them Lloyd.

They're tough and won't stop."

"You better listen to your friend earth dragon. We're much

more powerful than you thi—" The gryphon then drops to

the floor as a ball of energy shoots over. Lloyd growled

"I'm not an earth dragon, you birdbrain. Maybe you should

heed your own words." He shots off another energy blast

at them. That set off the fight between the ninja and

gryphons. Nya did her best with shooting out water whips

and blasts but Lloyd was going off. It seems he had

unlimited energy as he kept shooting energy blasts. The

other 4 were under the adult dragoness and moved her

carefully as they made it towards the room. Then after

they got in it shut itself and locked. Cole was horrified and

ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.

"No!"

Meanwhile the 3 dragonets outside fought against the

enemy. Cinder was using his elements as best he could do

in the enclosed space as he tried to not injure his

teammates. The gryphons were ruthless as they used

everything they had against them, which was slowly

making both Nya and Cinder's magic levels drained. Soon

both couldn't use their elements and tried to do physical

combat but that was fruitless as the bird/cat hybrids were

more physical and were like balls being held. They were

soon thrown back into the wall hard, going unconscious.

Lloyd looked shocked and saw the gryphons grinning at

him.

"Hehe, you're outnumbered, you filthy lizard. You should

surrender before you suffer a worse fate. What would it

be?" The leader questioned

Lloyd looked at his teammates, the gryphons, then back.

Making up his mind he runs off, surprising the gryphons.

The leader squawked in rage but calmed down. He turned

to his men.

"Grr, come on. We got what we needed. Let's get outta

here before we're spotted."

The battle raged on for the entire day and night. Rain

pounded the ground as lightning struck and thunder

rumbled. Soon the gryphons were thrown out and

retreated and the dragons sighed in relief. But sadly they

still lost. Ashevwrd strolled through the temple's halls till he

went down underground to the secured room he made for

the 7 dragonets to be protected. Upon coming to it he saw

the area was full of scratches, holes, and burn marks. He

became worried and quickly went to the door and opened

it to see to his dismay 4 dragons and Zephyr, which the

wind dragoness was knocked out. When hearing the door

open the 4 dragonets turned in alert but relieved to see the

Fire Guardian.

"What in the Ancestors happened? Where's Cinder, Lloyd,

and Nya? I thought you 7 were safe and what happened to

Zephyr?"

"We were followed by the gryphons. It seems they have a

smaller team sneaked in during the battle. Possibly the

army attacking was a distraction to get us." Zane

described and Ashevwrd nodded.

"So where are they?"

"W-w-we don't know. U-u-us 4 had to carry Zephyr in as

they took h-h-her out first and the door shut itself

immediately w-w-when we came in. W-w-we don't know

what happened after that, we just listened to the fight,

hopeless that we couldn't help." Cole said stressed out

"Well, good news is you 4 are safe. Let's get Zephyr to the

med room to heal up. Then we'll head t—-" The Fire

Guardian was cut off by heavy breathing behind him.

Turning around Ashevwrd saw a familiar green dragon

sluggishly coming towards them. The 4 dragonets

exclaimed in relief.

"Lloyd!"

They ran up and hugged him. He just whines in relief and

slunk to the floor with happiness but sadness. Ashevwrd

questioned the green energy dragon about what

happened. But Lloyd shook his head.

"They're gone. Those birdbrains took them and on their

way to the Gryphon's Kingdom, we lost."