.....please read any notes I leave for this chapter.
Of course when I try to write said notes I immediately forget what I was going to write. But I guess the best way to summarize it would be that I will unfortunately be slowing down the already slow updates for this book. The reason? Because I feel like I have more passion when writing my httyd book, and the fact that I'm pretty sure most people like it more than this one due to its more "realistic" nature. And overall, I do get more comments with suggestions that do help me write chapters a little bit faster (most of the time). Another reason is because of a rumor that Netflix will remove race to the edge in 2 years. Let me clarify that I'm not abandoning this fic, but simply updating it less often. Sadly I'm not like the writers who have many chapters in reserve, but to be honest, I feel like that wouldn't fit my style because reading your feedback for the chapter does help me a little bit with the next one. Possibly no more chapter previews either.
Enjoy the chapter
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
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(3rd POV)
On the top deck of the Bounty, the ninja—including a still normal sized Lloyd—and Nya were sparring against Akira after over an hour of both Lloyd and Nya convincing her to do so, despite her reluctant acceptance. They wanted more intense training against something they had used—with the current exceptions being Lloyd and Nya—in every battle so far: Spinjitzu, as well as its other variants that Akira had shown during their battle at the now-ruined serpentine mountain fortress. Of course, the ninja themselves were confused with why she was teaching them how to fight against the martial art, and it didn't take long before one of them voiced that confusion. "Why are we doing this again?" Jay queried, using normal nunchucks to parry a very toned down sword strike from Akira. "It's not like any of our enemies use Spinjitzu." He added, earning a disapproving frown from Wu, briefly reminding Wu of a particular serpentine who he had once thought was his friend so many years ago, as well as drawing a scoff from Akira at his ignorance. Cole was about to add his own two cents when Akira spoke up, smacking his steel bladed scythe away and out of his hands, forcing him to retrieve it. "Since you seem to have already forgotten, Garmadon is a child of The First Spinjitzu Master, so it would be obvious to assume that he'd know Spinjitzu." Akira stated, before proceeding to use Spinjitzu to "run" circles around them, pulling them all into her tornado before throwing them out.
"And I can only assume that the reason he hasn't been using it would either have to do with the fact that it's related to his father, and in turn, creation, or that he may be instinctively trying his hardest to hold back, but that side of his corrupted self is only outwardly visible when it involves Lloyd." She added, walking over to the said child, bending down to check on him as the other five got up shortly after. After seeing that he was okay, Akira gently smacked his cheek. "Get up, Vælnok. You quite literally asked for this." Lloyd groaned, slowly pulling himself up from the floor as Akira stood up. She walked back toward her original position, waiting for everyone to get ready to begin once more. She then glanced over to Nya, who had upgraded her Samurai X suit using materials given to her by Akira, making it much more durable than before. Nya had also made a small cosmetic change, adding some azure around her chest-plate, arm guards and helmet. "Nya, you need to start focusing a little more on your own Spinjitzu training." However, before Nya could protest, Akira raised a finger. "Whether or not you don't want to be a ninja, Spinjitzu is still a valuable tool for combat." Akira got a sigh of reluctant acceptance from the Samurai that was closely followed by a nod. "I get it, it's just I'm not really making much progress."
Akira shrugged. "Just don't worry too much about not making too much progress," She said in a comforting tone. "You'll get it with time." Nya smiled before picking up her swords from the floor, brandishing them towards Akira. Akira glanced over at the five ninja, who were all clearly exhausted from this intense training session. In fact, the only reason Nya was not as exhausted was because of her armor, most of which had been replaced with stronger material. The material itself was nothing to scoff at and would last Nya for a long time before needing to be repaired or replaced, allowing her to use the remainder to further upgrade her tools, such as her jetpack and mech-suit. "Now, before we start again—not even mentioning that this has turned into a one on one—I want you to focus your mind on aspects of balance and life." Nya's swords dropped ever so slightly as she tilted her head in confusion. Noticing this, Akira explained further. "Spinjitzu is focused around those two concepts, with Rising Dragon being focused more on motion and Shatter-spin around corrupted strength; the reason why I won't be teaching it to any of you." Akira looked over to the ninja with a flat expression.
"Whilst I do not know much about the Rising Dragon or Shatter-spin, of which is something that I agree you should never use let alone learn, she is correct to say that Spinjitzu is focused around the concepts of balance and life." Wu confirmed, stroking his long beard and mustache. Jay perked up slightly before raising his hand as if he were in a classroom. "Oh, oh! What about the one where you threw that rock and covered it with Spinjitzu?" He questioned, before his expression shifted to a pondering one. "Throw-itzu?" Jay was quickly smacked in the back of his head by Kai. "It's called Object Spinjitzu, idiot." The red ninja corrected. "Object Spinjitzu is focused on the concept of Flow." Akira answered, shifting her weight to her right leg as she moved a hand to her hip. "It can also have an explosive impact due to the fact that you would be directing the flow of the Spinjitzu energy into a small object instead of surrounding yourself with it." She added, folding her wings behind her back like a cape. Akira glanced toward Nya to see her still aiming her swords towards her, but she could also see that Nya took quick glances to her sides. Akira smiled. 'Good, she's already got it in her head that I can attack her from any angle, even though I'm standing in front of her.' Akira mused, a war hammer materializing in her grasp as she aimed it towards Nya.
Nya tightened her grip on her weapons, there was no need for words as of this moment, Akira could quite literally attack her from anywhere—oh fuck! Akira had essentially disintegrated from Nya's view, with the samurai barely able to block Akira's attack, her eyes widening as she quickly saw that the dragon was not behind the hammer when Nya was suddenly kicked off the bounty, landing onto Akira's ship as the roof shifted into a small boxing ring-like arena. Groaning, Nya slowly got up to stand when music started playing. "Is that... boss music?" She asked herself, just before Akira landed on the other side of the arena. Nya stared at Akira before shrugging her shoulders in a confused manner. "It is in fact boss music from one of the games we played a few days ago." Akira confirmed, slowly waving her free hand dramatically before clenching it tightly, causing a holographic to appear in the air from one of the corner pillars. "Last long enough and you may win a prize." Akira said, her voice distorting with a mechanical tone as her scarf lifted itself up from her neck to cover most of her face. 'Aww, fuuck.' Nya mentally cursed as Akira launched her hammer towards her.
(Scene break)
A few hours—about two—had passed since the ninja had their tor-training session with Akira, this had left them all—minus Akira—very exhausted, leaving the ninja team, with Wu's permission, to take the rest of the day off... unless of course, there was an emergency. "Everyone!" Zane called out, getting the tired attention of the other four ninja. "The Falcon has returned with troubling news." He added, gesturing for them to follow him. Nya, Akira and Wu were already in the bridge when the ninja rushed through the door and toward the main console, with Zane only pausing to remove a special usb from the Falcon's open chest-plate before pushing it into the slot on the side of the computer console. "What did you see, my mechanical-feathered friend?" Zane pressed a button, the large screen brightening up with a visual of Ouroboros that was recorded from the Falcon's optics. "The Lost City of Ouroboros." Nya quietly gasped, shocked that the city was restored to its previous state before the Devourer destroyed it. "Garmadon has returned to the serpentine home base, but why?" Kai questioned with a shrug. Akira narrowed her eyes when the video briefly zoomed in on Garmadon, but she was more focused on the golden staff he held that was clearly the poorly reforged Golden Weapons. "It looks like they're preparing for a final battle." Cole pointed out once the recording had zoomed in on multiple serpentine training with each other. "Nya, change course." Wu began after turning to her. "We'll head straight for them." He added, with Nya nodding in response before heading towards the wheel.
Akira hummed thoughtfully, sending a mental command to her ship as the Destiny's Bounty brakes squealed as it quickly stopped before turning around to go towards Ouroboros, the Draconic Vessel following close behind. Selma and the other four serpentine were just about to head towards the turret controls when Akira had teleported in front of them with a raised hand. "I think it would be best if you five stayed out of the major portion of this battle, or just stick to fighting the warriors." She glanced over at Thalia. "That means no using the turrets to attack the generals or Garmadon either, I would prefer to leave Ouroboros intact." A sheepish expression crossed Thalia's face as she whistled nervously, looking at everything other than Akira's eyes. "If I may ask why?" Aella asked, Lycora nodding in agreement. "Yeah, we may not be the best fighters, with Selma being the only me of us to have elemental powers, but we can still hold our own." The Fangpyre added, Akira crossing her arms a moment after. "This isn't about him having the Mega-Weapon, is it?" Pyralis queried, with Akira shaking her head in response.
"No, it isn't. Not completely at least." She denied, glancing over at the holographic map that was showing how close they were getting to their destination. "I am the only one who can safely take the Mega-Weapon from Garmadon. With Lloyd being the only other one capable of doing so if he was older, and only when he unlocks his full potential." The five serpentine reluctantly nodded in agreement. It made sense, especially since Wu had told them exactly what had happened the last time someone had tried to wield the power of all four Golden Weapons at once. ...He had exploded into gold dust, with Garmadon escaping through a realm vortex.
"It may also have an explosive reaction, and I'd rather not have to pick up your scales from the sand." Akira added in a surprisingly parental tone, whilst the part about an explosion was unlikely, the Mega-Weapon itself was most certainly unstable due to how poorly it was forged, and could have disastrous consequences if handled improperly. The Golden Weapons weren't something that could just be melted down and cobbled together into one weapon, nor could it be reforged into their original state, one mistake and the Golden Weapons would lose their power completely, temporarily if you're lucky enough.
It was 20 minutes later when both ships landed not too far away from the serpentine city, the reason being so that they could sneak into the city and toward the arena where Garmadon was located without the need to fight through the entire serpentine army, something that Akira had agreed with as she did not want to involve any civilians, even the ones that mingle with some of the warriors and scouts. As they got closer to the arena, Akira could sense the intense fluctuations of unstable power coming from the Mega-Weapon before being brought under control by Garmadon, a temporary solution that was slowly becoming less effective the longer it went on. 'That thing will take a while to stabilize, let alone reforge it back into four separate weapons.' Akira mused with annoyance, and whilst she could continue further about how carelessly made the Mega-weapon was, it'd get repetitive too quickly. 'Just my luck. Hopefully he wasn't stupid enough to try and destroy the Golden Peaks.' She added as she slipped between two Hypnobrai, being the only one on this team with the ability to go invisible, the others having to roof hop and sneak between the allies.
"More firepower!" Akira heard Garmadon yell as she stood atop one of the bleachers and the ninja team hid on top of the buildings not far from the arena. She focused her attention on a Fangpyre working on a Fangpyre vehicle, she began to. "When we attack the ninja, they won't see it coming." Garmadon began, walking closer to the vehicle. "Our forces will be so strong, Ninjago will be mine!" He raised the Mega-weapon as he finished his short monologue, only for the Fangpyre working on the vehicle to begin hitting the weapon with the welder, getting golden sparks before Garmadon quickly pulled the weapon away. The ninja began to jump down from the rooftops onto the now empty streets of Ouroboros, running towards the arena and between the bleachers, with Wu being the first to attack. "Ninja-go!" He used Spinjitzu to knock both Garmadon and the Fangpyre away, with the serpentine being knocked unconscious. Garmadon looked up at Wu after righting himself on his feet, a disdainful sneer crossing his face. "Oh, brother!" He hissed with irritation, hand clenching in anger.
"It's time we finished this." Wu stated, with the four ninja and Nya in her Samurai X armor landing behind him a moment after, all brandishing their weapons. "Bring it on, fools!" Garmadon retorted challengingly, about to use the Mega-Weapon with the intention to create a monster that would destroy the ninja. Obviously, Akira could not allow that to happen—especially with how violently the weapon was beginning to shake—so she jumped down in front of Garmadon and straight up decked him with a left hook, launching him into the recently rebuilt statue of the Great Devourer, causing it to collapse on top of him. "Holy shit!" Kai muttered. "She really was going easy on us during our training." Cole added. "Yeah, remind me not to get her mad." Jay quipped. Akira walked towards the collapsed statue as Garmadon pulled himself out of it.
"Willingly hand over the Mega-weapon, and I might just let you walk away." Garmadon intensely glared at Akira, snarling as he stood up to his full height. "You think that I will let you defeat me?!" He slammed a fist against his chest-plate, before raising the Mega-weapon in the air as he grabbed onto it with his other three hands. "I wish for you to be—." Garmadon quickly dodged to his left as Akira had rushed toward him, nearly hitting him. "Do you really think I'll let you use it?" Akira rhetorically questioned, watching as Garmadon was about to make a second attempt before she rushed towards him again, with Garmadon just barely escaping her grasp this time, but the weapon had still released a small pulse of unstable energy that had inadvertently gave life to the Fangpyre vehicle, forcing the ninja to deal with it as it attacked them. He raised the Mega-weapon for the third time. "I wish for you to be banished from this realm, far away from this one and the ninja." Garmadon growled. The Mega-weapon began to shine a brighter gold, with multiple colors surrounding it representing the elements of the four golden weapons it was forged from, but it didn't take much longer before it began to shake.
Akira hissed, the only reason she didn't just yank the weapon from his hands was because of how badly it could react to her power in the weapon's current state, it didn't help that she could feel the Mega-weapon's power try to wrap around her. She rushed toward Garmadon again, with him being unable to react before she grabbed onto the Mega-weapon's handle, which only caused it to shake more violently. "Oh, you've gotta be shitting me." Akira finally yanked the staff from Garmadon's grasp before kicking him into the wall behind him. A beam of light suddenly shot out of the Mega-weapon, its power finally wrapping around her before she disappeared in a flash of light. "Whoa!/What the fuck?/Where did she go?" Everyone was shocked at Akira's sudden disappearance, it was more so of where she was sent than how she disappeared but that did nothing to alleviate the situation, luckily they didn't have to worry about the mutated Fangpyre vehicle as it was quite fragile and therefore didn't take the effort one would think to destroy it. Not long later, Selma, Lycora, Thalia, Aella and Pyralis rushed into the slither pit arena, blood covering Thalia and Pyralis' claws and arms, Aella and Lycora having some on their faces, with Selma being the only one to not have any at all. "Holy, shit. What happened here?" Thalia wondered as they all slowed down to a halt near the ninja. "Where's Akira?" Selma asked, looking around at all the rubble.
"Garmadon banished her from this realm with the Mega-weapon." Wu answered. "Yeah, and who knows how long it'll take her to get back." Jay added, quite freaked out by the situation. "Luckily, Akira was able to snatch the Mega-weapon from Garmadon before she disappeared." Nya said, getting a nod from Zane. "Nya is correct. And I suspect that it won't take long before she returns." Cole's eyes shone with realization. "Oh yeah, that's right! Akira's a dragon, and they can travel between realms." Lycora looked back the way they came with a worried expression, but not at the fact that Akira was gone, no, she knew that her Sensei—as she had started to call her due to them being trained to become the first serpentine ninjas—could very well take care of herself. "Uh, guys, we should really get going now. Unless you think we can fight off the entire serpentine army without the golden weapons." Wu shook his head at her warning. "Then we must go now, before we're all overrun by the serpentine army." He said, before they all rushed to leave the city.
Inside the bleacher he was kicked into, Garmadon sluggishly pulled himself up from the rubble, weakened due to the use of an unstable Mega-weapon. "Damn you, Akira. You may have taken the Mega-weapon from me, but I still won against you in the end, now there is one less ninja to deal with."He began cackling evilly, quickly silencing himself as to not draw the ninjas attention before he made his escape deeper into the serpentine city.
(Scene break)
In the night sky of the First Realm, Akira fell through the air after being dropped from a flash of light. With a bored sigh, she changed into her dragon form with a flash of silver light, gracefully flying through the air before she landed on the sand covered stone of her birth realm. "And I had just gotten back to Ninjago, too." She grumbled, shifting her armored scales on her back to make room for the Mega-weapon, using her tail to place into the new space before her scale-plating shifted back into place to conceal and lock it into place. Akira hummed, gently guiding her silver power into the staff to begin stabilizing it, huffing in annoyance at how slow it was going. "I might as well take some time to visit mom, maybe Thunderfang too." Akira's posture became relaxed as she began to walk in with the particular direction of the nest in mind, so long as Firstbourne hadn't decided to move to a new nest then it would be in the same location, this was guaranteed as she had no reason to do so.
It was only minutes later—10-15 max—when Akira paused her casual stroll. "Hmm?" Akira tilted her head, spotting what looked to be a camp a few miles away from her current position. There were very few humans in the first realm that could survive its harsh conditions—not including those from the City of Temples who visited different realms—so it got her curiosity, and it didn't stray too far off course from where she was headed so a small detour wouldn't hurt. Her nostrils flared as she caught a familiar scent of dragons within the camp, eyes narrowing into slits when she noticed that they were chained down to the ground, with muzzles on their heads.
With an angered snarl, Akira's body was enclosed with a glowing white outline of elemental energy before her visibly disappeared from her position, a streak of white light heading toward the camp at impossibly high speeds, the light dissipating just as it stopped abruptly behind a conveniently tall tent, Akira's eyes filling with rage at the sound of cheers and laughter within it. "Iron Barron will be pleased with our hunt." A hunter said, with the others beginning to cheer. "Yes, very pleased indeed. After all, wind dragons are not only rare, but difficult to catch with how they're always high up in the sky." Another stated, their voice only being heard by the two hunters beside them. "And best of all, we caught a baby." The third laughed. "Maybe Iron Barron will let us use its bones for armor."
[Snarling]
However, before they could even blink, blue fire engulfed the tent, burning everything and everyone inside to ashes in an instant. Just like that, barely any warning, no time to react nor escape. Just burned down to ash. The remaining hunters that were scattered around the camp rushed towards Akira, weapons in hand. Those stupid enough to get too close had Akira's jaws clamping down on their bodies, the enraged female dragon swallowing them whole before continuing her rampage through the camp as she freed the captive dragons. Glancing around the demolished campsite, Akira's mood and expression immediately shifted from angered rage to relaxed and calm, a kind expression forming on her face as she gently released the baby wind dragon from his chains, moving to sit on her haunches as she cradled the child in her arms.
"[Shushes]. It's okay, you're okay now." She whispered comfortingly, making more chirps and warbles of comfort to soothe the draconic child as she healed the injuries he suffered from the hunters. It was only a moment later when the parents walked up to Akira, who had gladly handed them their child, the mother rumbling in gratitude whilst the father tilted his head with slight familiarity in his gaze. "You're Ignatius, aren't you?" He began with a questioning tone, getting a nigh unnoticeable frown from Akira at the use of her old name, especially since dragons don't just change their names. The male dragon sniffed the air. "The stories were true. You are just like HIM." Akira huffed. "I go by Akira now." She stated softly with a hint of annoyance, the male dragon furrowing his brow at the revelation of her new name. "You must be one of the younger ones if it took so long to recognize me. Though my form has gone through many changes since I was last here." She muttered incoherently, reminiscing about the times where she would watch over the younger dragons and hatchlings.
"Either way, Igna-Akira," He started, nearly using Akira's former name before the hybrid dragon lightly glared at him. "We are forever in your debt, my family may have not lived to see the sunrise." The male dragon bowed his head in respect and thankfulness, raising his head a few moments later. The father dragon glanced over to his mate and child before glancing back at Akira. "Does that mean you will return to the nest?" Akira nodded before replying. "Yes. In fact, I was already on my way there." She glanced over to the direction of Firstbourne's nest. "I was originally taking my time until I ended up taking a very necessary scenic route." She sighed softly. "But I suppose we could make the trip in a fair amount of time, even with your injuries." She added, gesturing to his wounds, with some having a high chance to scar.
They weren't lethal, luckily for him, but unfortunately for him that meant Akira wouldn't bother to heal him either. Akira glanced over his shoulder, checking to see whether the youngling had calmed down, only to find out that the mother was covering a heavily bleeding wound that appeared to be quite fatal if not checked on soon. "Let me see your wound." Akira said softly as she walked towards the mother dragon. The mother tensed for a moment, taking briefly glances at her son, only to finally uncover her wound with great reluctance, revealing her wounds Akira, but also showing her son just how cruel humans can be towards dragons.
Akira hummed, inspecting the wounds before she healed the most fatal ones, but left the minor wounds untouched, confusing the dragon family. "You wield the power to heal, yet do not heal all my wounds? Why?" She queried, wincing only slightly as she stretched her body. "Because if I were to heal all your wounds, your body wouldn't grow in strength and durability, therefore lowering your future chances of survivability if you encounter dragon hunters again." Akira answered, giving a valid reason why she wouldn't fully heal them. Except the child, of course, she was sure to fully heal him, though sadly she wasn't able to heal any trauma he suffered, nor did she really know how to help with it. "Well, let's start making our way towards the nest." Akira said. "I can already tell what Mot-Firstbourne is gonna say when we get there." She added, mentally predicting the scolding that would come.
(Scene break)
Akira was correct in her assumption, only... it didn't quite happen in the order she was expecting. Instead of scolding her first, Firstbourne had pulled her into a hug, doting her with kisses on her head—after seeing that the family of three were alright—much to Akira's embarrassment. But, it didn't last long as Firstbourne was quick to begin scolding her once they were in a more private area. "Of all the things you could have done, this was the most outrageous of all." Akira kept quiet as she looked away from her mother as she scolded her with a barely concealed furious tone. "Leaving the realm? Without speaking to me about it?" Akira was about to retort, before her mother glared at her to stay silent. "Why? Why couldn't you have just told me?" Firstbourne asked, her stern expression shifting between that of a worried mother, and a disappointed queen. "Why couldn't you have let me know, so that even if you continued to leave as you did, that I would at least know that you were safe?"
Akira turned to look at her, unable to contain her brief snort of laughter. "You of all dragons know that there was no one left who could challenge me at the time. Not with Thunderfang imprisoned." She muttered the latter sentence, but that didn't stop a frown from forming on Firstbourne's lips. "It's one of the reasons I left in the first place." Akira added, getting Firstbourne to huff indignantly. "And it's because I know you and your strength so well that I know there were those who could still oppose a challenge to you." She said softly. "The three Oni warlords, Oni Alpha, Oni Omega, the Darkness." Akira tilted her head at that last one. "The Darkness? Do you mean the Overlord?" She queried thoughtfully, before shaking her head. "And you said those three followed Montgomery when he left, so they're probably dead." She retorted. "Actually, no. One of them is still kicking, pretending to be an old lady."
A brief look of horror crossed the Dragon Queen's face before her expression quickly turned neutral. "You met it?" She asked her hybrid daughter, who shook her head in denial. "No, not really. But I did watch his fight with Montgomery." Akira answered, grabbing a random rock and splitting it in half. "That was when he split Ninjago in two." A sigh of exasperation came from Firstbourne, before she suddenly pulled Akira into a hug, wrapping her wings and tail around her. "I missed you, my dear child." She rumbled softly. "I missed you too." Akira muttered in reply, accepting the hug with little hesitation. "I met many new creatures on my... adventure. Including some humans whose company I surprisingly enjoy." Firstbourne smiled, pulling away from the hug. "Tell me all about it."
From then on, Akira began to recount her journey through the realms, such as her observations of the Forbidden Five in the Wildness and their use of a corrupt form of Spinjitzu—something that greatly surprised her mother—her brief journey through the realm of Monsters and the realm of lost things, the city of Imperium within its realm of the same name, and many more before eventually landing in the realm of Ninjago. And it was only a few moments after where she began to speak about Arcturus. "Then there's Arcturus." Akira smiled fondly at the name, a concealed glint of regret appearing in her eyes for but a brief moment. "He was a brave warrior, a good King... and someone I came to love as a father figure. I... I think you would've liked him."
Akira's chest began to rise up and down in rapid succession in response to her stifled laughter. "What's so funny, Ignatus?" Akira's laughter quickly subsided at the use of her old name, before it reignited with renewed intensity. She truly did dislike her old name, not because of who gave it to her—no, never, it was her mother who gave her that name—but because it just didn't feel right, like a puzzle piece that didn't exactly fit into place, but still looked like it belonged. "Could you... please call me, Akira, from now on?" She mumbled as her laughter settled down, Firstbourne tilting her head in confusion before nodding in response. "Okay." She muttered back, gently scratching Akira's chin with a claw. A cheeky grin rose up Akira's lips. "I think if he was a dragon, you two would've been good mates." She immediately sped back, climbing onto the ceiling, looking down at her mother who simply stared up at her with an expression that could only be described as an amused-deadpan.
"Do you really think I would've forgotten about your usual antics?" Firstbourne asked rhetorically, an amused smile on her lips. She really did miss the small banter between herself and her daughter. "Like I'd ever be embarrassed by something so trivial." Though admittedly—though she would never say this out loud—Ignatus... no, Akira had rubbed off on her. Her brow raising, Firstbourne hummed at the small, but steady pulse of energy coming from Akira, it would have gone unnoticed if not for her own acute senses. "What is it you're hiding, child?" Akira tilted her head at the question, she supposed out of all the dragons here, Firstbourne would be the one to sense the Mega-weapon even with its power hidden beneath a veil of her own. After jumping down, Akira's back opened up just like before, the golden staff raised itself with a small pop just as she grabbed it in her claws, then stretched her arm out to her mother before opening her claws to reveal the Mega-weapon, now floating just above her palm.
Firstbourne moved her head down to get a closer look as she hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm. You've always had a way with gravity." She murmured, sniffing the staff and catching a familiar, yet very faint scent. 'Monty?' She mentally queried, before looking into her daughter's eyes. "He made this?" She asked slowly in a soft tone. Akira quickly nodded in response. "Yes and no. Garmadon—his first born son—melted down the four golden weapons into this poorly crafted staff." Akira said, getting a smile from Firstbourne at the fact that one of her children who were closest to her had a child of their own, meaning she had a grandchild, more than one if she heard correctly. "Oh," Akira's eyes shone with realization. "The golden weapons were four artifacts that Montgomery made, each holding a piece of the four elements of creation. Straight from the source, I might add. And I'm not talking about the Source Dragons." She added, explaining in further detail before muttering the last part under her breath.
Firstbourne heard her muttered words, but didn't bother to speak up about it, instead aiming her focus at the fact that her daughter was—even now—carefully pouring her own power into the weapon, stitching newly formed cracks together, slowly but surely inducing stability into the weapon's physical form. "It is indeed interesting to say the least." Firstbourne commented, raising her head back up, but still looking down at Akira. "Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about human weapons, let alone the ones Monty used." The First Mortal Dragon admitted. She never bothered learning about the weapons mostly used to kill her kin beyond what her hybrid son told her. Oh, how she missed him, one of her many precious hatchlings, even if she hadn't laid the eggs herself she cared for them all... even those like Thunderfang.
Seeing her somber expression, Akira placed the Mega-weapon back between her armor-plated scales, where it sunk back into place, being covered by her natural armor once more. "Well, I know this is kind of abrupt, and probably the worst time to say this. But I should get going now." Her mother's somber expression only intensified, which was soon voiced by her query. "Why are you leaving so soon?" Akira winced, able to hear the small speck of hurt in her mother's voice, something she quickly attempted to rectify. "It's not because I don't want to be here, or around you. No. I may not say this much...." Akira scratched her claws against the ground awkwardly. "...But I do love you so much. And I'm sorry if I hurt you by leaving so suddenly." Firstbourne's expression softened, she hadn't wanted Akira to apologize, she understood that her leaving was just her growing up. Like any hatchling who left the nest.
She lifted Akira's chin up with a claw, giving her daughter a fond smile. "You needn't apologize about that." Firstbourne said in a soft, motherly tone. "And to be fair... Monty hadn't really given me much notice of his own departure." She admitted with her own apologetic expression. "So it wasn't really fair of me to snap like that. I suppose that I thought I had more time with you before you left the nest." She added, nuzzling Akira's head with familial affection, something which the hybrid had gladly accepted before nuzzling her mother's chin in return. "To answer your earlier question, I'm leaving so soon because one; I don't want the mega-weapon to detonate here if I mess something up. And two; because I have some friends I need to get back to, two of which include your grandson and great grandson." Firstbourne's eyes brightened with intrigue at her daughter's words. 'More grand-babies!' She cooed mentally, though her outward expression hadn't changed.
"Although, I also want to give Fangs a quick visit." Akira stated, getting a brief frown from Firstbourne. Despite what Thunderfang had done, both of them still cared deeply about him, and he never dared to harm a dragon that hadn't challenged him first let alone herself, nor did he kill them. Firstbourne nodded in agreement, although she was ever so slightly inclined to be hesitant about it. But, Akira would often venture out to visit her elder brother, so she really saw no harm in doing so. "Alright, you go do that." Firstbourne began, before staring down at Akira with a halfhearted glare. "But next time you visit, I'd like to meet my great-grandson." Akira chuckled. "I'll try." She gave her mother a hug, turning to leave before she tilted her head in thought, before deciding to simply teleport to her brother's prison.
A familiar silence soon followed Akira's departure, covering the cavern with an empty air that Firstbourne hadn't missed whatsoever. With a sigh that was filled with a mixture of melancholy emotions, Firstbourne walked out of the cavern to continue what she was doing before Akira came.
(Scene break)
Under normal circumstances, Akira would have gone through the Dragonian village, greeting the once mighty and powerful warriors turned pacifists before entering the prison—it was more of a dungeon to be honest. Instead she had appeared within the prison, not having to walk far before she stood in front of her elder brother, who stared down at her, his magenta gaze only holding the slightest hint of surprise. They continued to stare into each other's eyes, the silence being loud enough to echo through the cavern, the tension being able to be broken by a single breath... before Akira suddenly made a stupid, yet adorable face, causing Thunderfang to begin chuckling with amusement. "Oh, dear sister, you've yet to fail to amuse me." He stated, continuing to chuckle. "A refresher from the empty silence of my prismatic prison." He added in a surprisingly kind tone—one that he only reserved for a select few—referring to the prismatic chains that kept him here.
Akira gave him a soft smile. "Well, I try my best." Thunderfang let out another series of chuckles. "That you do." He let out a slightly exaggerated sigh, looking down at his sister. "So, it's been quite a while since we've last spoken." He began with a hint of sass, briefly tilting his head to the side before turning back to meet her gaze. "Or perhaps, you are here to free me with whatever you're hiding under your scales." Thunderfang's tone was of mischievous sadisticness, able to sense the immense power of the Mega-weapon even when hidden under a veil of Akira's power and armored scales. She huffed, exhaling electric smoke from her nostrils. "I'm not even gonna let you so much as glance at what I'm 'hiding', Fangs." Thunderfang lightly hissed, similarly to a crocodile, before stretching as best he could whilst being chained. "Oh, dear sister, I won't bite it like you did so many of the Oni artifacts we found on our... escapades." Embarrassment flushed Akira's cheeks, "lightly" smacking Thunderfang's chest, getting a muffled grunt out of him as his smirk only intensified.
"Fuck you, draconic bitch." Thunderfang raised a brow at her use of human profanity. And though only one was recognizable to him, he could still tell that the other one was some kind of insult. "I missed you too, sister 'o mine." Akira pouted, sticking her tongue out at her brother, sitting on her haunches as she crossed her arms. Frowning, Akira's arms dropped to her knees as she sighed, a hint of exasperation escaping her lips. "I have to go soon." She mumbled. Thunderfang's magenta eyes softened the slightest bit, but went unnoticed by his sister. "Then, why don't you tell me a little about your time since you left this realm. Any other escapades?"
(Scene break)
(Ninjago)
Inside the Bounty, Lloyd was in his room, reading a comic when the door opened, revealing Akira in her draconian form. "Akira!" Lloyd ran up to her, embracing her into a hug that Akira gladly accepted. "You're okay." He sniffed. "I thought.... Uncle Wu had Nya send your ship all over Ninjago to find you. But when it couldn't—." Akira pushed a finger against his lips. "[Shushes]. It's okay," She comforted him by rubbing his back. "I'm back now, and that's all that matters. I won't be disappearing like that again any time soon." Lloyd looked up at her. "But what about the Mega-weapon?" He asked with worry, knowing how dangerous it can be. Akira chuckled softly. "You don't have to worry about that." She said with a cheeky smile. "It's in a very safe place that I recently created just for it." She finished, only hinting at the temple she had created at the Golden Peaks, a place that would allow the Mega-weapon to slowly stabilize itself now that its physical form could contain its own power.
(???)
Far, far away from Ninjago, the ticking of a clock could be heard, before a loud bell sounded out, sending a wave of invisible energy that spread across the ocean and through the mysterious tunnels underneath Ninjago city, along with other undiscovered locations. This energy unlocked a door, but it didn't open enough for anyone to enter or exit, only showing the dark purple eyes of newly reawakened stone warriors not seen since the beginning of the age of the First Spinjitzu Master. "{The Dark Lord shall rise!}"
(End)