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Chapter Text

When Wu first woke up, he had been surrounded by brightly coloured ninja. They had told him that Wu’s age had been reversed and his memories lost, but also to not worry – they were his friends, and his memories would come back over time, apparently anyway.

Although startled and scared by the strangers, and by waking up in a completely different place to where he went to sleep, something inside him told him that they could be trusted, and Wu’s father had always told him to trust his instincts.

He sighed, looking over at the Ninja from where he was sitting by the campfire. They had been running around the broken ship for the past hour, trying to salvage various pieces of odd-looking equipment. They were trying to build a radio – whatever that was – in order to reach Ninjago.

They had been stranded in the First Realm, and although Wu was hungry and bored, he couldn’t help but be a little excited. His father had always told Wu and his brother about his home realm – saying that it was dangerous and filled with the only beings in the Sixteen Realms who could ever hope to rival his powers (excluding Wu and Garmadon of course), but that it was also beautiful and that he hoped to take them there when they were older. And now here he was, in the First Realm! Garmadon would be so jealous.

The sound of shifting sand bought Wu back from his thoughts. He looked up, the ninja had approached him, looking hopeful.

“Hey, little master,” the black one – Cole – said, “We were wondering if you had any bits of wisdom to share with us.”

What a ridiculous question. Who did they think he was, the First Spinjitzu Master? And why were they asking him anyway, they were the ones who were nearly adults in this situation. Wu didn’t have any ‘wisdom’ for them, but he did know one thing:

“I’m hungry.”

Cole sighed, sounding disappointed, “We told you; we’re rationing out food.”

Yeah, but that didn’t change the fact that Wu was hungry. His dad could have made something to eat, whether it was through creation or by actual cooking it didn’t matter; he could have made it and then Wu wouldn’t be hungry. Although they had only been separated for a few hours (at least from Wu's point of view), he already missed him.

The blue ninja – Jay – cackled. He must have thought Wu had said something hilarious, even when he hadn’t. Wu was pretty sure that he had lost it.

“I’m still hungry,” he reiterated, already fed up with what was happening.

“We all are,” that was kai, the red ninja, and he sounded annoyed. Wu shrank in on himself a bit, he didn’t want to make anyone upset.

He was vaguely aware of the metal ninja (how that worked, Wu had no idea) coming to his defence. He appreciated it, at least someone – Zane in this case – was on his side.

“Listen, Wu,” Wu glanced up, Kai was crouching next to him, sounding calmer than before, “Why don’t you go find some food for us?”

Are you crazy?! Go out alone in the First Realm? No thank you.

Wu thought about it; the Ninja were Elemental Masters, that meant that on some level, his father trusted them, and that they could defend themselves and others. He hesitated, hoping he wouldn’t come off as too childish, before looking up at Cole and asking, “Could you come with me?”

Wu hoped he would; Cole was his favourite so far.

Cole smiled, “Sure little Master, let’s go.”

Wu shrugged and got up, at least this way he would get to see some of the First Realm. But he did have one question before they went:

“Why do you call me that?”

Cole waved his arm, “I dunno, force of habit I guess,” Well that wasn’t helpful at all, and made no sense. If they were friends, why would he call him little master?

Deciding to let it drop, Wu continued climbing up the sandy dune. He really needed to find food.

They had been walking through the desert for some time, when it occurred to Wu that he didn’t know what the ninja wanted their food to be.

Wu had automatically defaulted to hunting for alive things – vermin, cattle, even Dragons and Oni – that they could eat, until he remembered his father had said that humans ate a lot less meat than they did. Wu wasn’t even sure if they could eat Dragon and Oni flesh like he could. He decided he would have to speak up now before it became too awkward for him to ask.

“Cole, what exactly are we looking for?”

Cole stopped, seeming surprised at the question, “Uhhh, like fruits and nuts and berries I suppose. Why, what else would there be to eat?”

“I dunno. I just wanted to make sure.” Wu replied, continuing past Cole. So not meat then, he thought.

Wu decided to keep looking out for live creatures anyway. No reason why he couldn’t have them. His stomach ached at the thought of some nice wild boar; delicious and juicy and his favourite type of meat. Actually, he didn’t think the First Realm had wild boar. He hummed, trying to remember the First Realm animals his dad had taught him about but came up short. He suspected he hadn’t been paying attention at the time. Whoops.

He stopped, trying to remember what else his dad had told him about the First Realm, but other than some random facts about the geography and the occasional bit of politics, he couldn’t recall anything.

Cole caught up with him, “Whatcha thinking about?”

Wu hesitated. He trusted Cole, but it didn’t seem like he knew a lot about his life; the Ninja had seemed uncertain earlier when they were discussing his heritage, like they didn’t really know what was going on. But Wu’s gut still told him they were his friends, so told him anyway.

“I’m trying to remember what my dad told me about the First Realm,” he said, kicking a rock into a bush. They had been walking for hours. He was getting tired.

“Oh, cool! Come up with anything useful?”

“No, just that this desert is supposed to be really big. Bigger than the whole of Ninjago!” Wu announced, “I think,” It wasn’t a very helpful fact, but it was cool. That and his grandma – Firstbourne – lived in a mountain somewhere in the desert. He left that part out though; she was probably busy – and some people reacted weirdly when they found out his grandma was a Dragon.

But Cole didn’t seem deterred by Wu’s lack of helpful information.

“Well, that’s definitely interesting!” he said, sounding way too cheerful about this whole situation, “Come on, we have to keep looking.”

Wu started walking again, looking around at the endless dust and scrub of the desert. So far the First Realm had been boring, with not even a single tiny critter scuttling around, but being here satisfied something deep and ancient inside him, like an itch he didn’t know was there had finally been scratched. And it was beautiful too, he supposed, the colours of the sky were richer and more colourful than the blue skies of Ninjago.

He reckoned he would enjoy this experience much more if he wasn’t hungry and tired and trying to find food. And his feet hurt .

Wu looked over at Cole, “It feels like we’ve been walking forever,” he complained, trying to gain some sympathy.

“Yeah, well, Ninja never quit.” Cole replied.

“But I’m not a Ninja,” he whined.

“Ah ha,” Cole laughed, “But one day you will be.”

Ugh, he sounded like his dad.

Wu was about to inform him of that, when he heard a sound.

He startled and shrank behind Cole for protection. The Ninja had already held out an arm, signalling for him to stop. Silently, Cole beckoned with his hand for them to sneak forward and check out the disturbance.

Crouching behind some bushes, the duo carefully looked down into what seemed like a dry riverbed.

There it was – a baby Dragon feeding on some strange looking fruit.

Wu leapt back as quietly as he could. If there was a baby Dragon, there was a parent Dragon nearby as well, and they would not like strangers – especially Wu with his Oni blood – near their hatchling.

But Cole must have mistaken his movement for fear, for turned to Wu to reassure him, “Hey, it’s okay, I used to be scared of them too, but look, dragons are our friends.”

Wu had a number of friends who were Dragons – his father had thought it necessary that Wu and Garmadon socialised with members of their own species, even if he didn’t want them going to the First Realm until they were older – but he thought that Cole’s generalisation was a bit naive.

He probably should have stopped Cole from approaching the Dragon, but he was nothing if not a bit petty, so he didn’t.

“Hiya, little fella!” Cole cooed at the hatchling, “What ‘cha eating? Mmmm, looks delicious!”

The hatchling snarled at Cole, curling around the fruit, “Back off, this is my food.”

But Cole, not speaking Dragon, did not back off, and instead tried to placate the hatchling, “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, we just want to share.”

Wu would love to have a bit of that fruit, but the hatchling clearly didn’t want to give it up, and Dragons could be among the most possessive creatures in The Sixteen Realms. They would be better coming back later or finding a different food source all together.

He was about to tell Cole just that, when he felt a rumble, pounding a deadly beat. Oh no , that feels like-

The parent Dragon roared at Cole, furious beyond all belief that someone had dared approach their child.

Cole stumbled, falling back with fright. Wu held his breath; he really did not want to fight a full-grown Dragon today. While he was sure he could escape relatively unharmed from the fight, adding Cole into the equation complicated things.

Just as Cole made it back to Wu, the Dragon struck. Lightning came flashing towards them, leaving only a split second to jump out of the way, the blast pushing them both to their knees.

As they quickly scrambled to their feet, Wu looked over at Cole to see what they should do, fight or run?

“Run!” Cole screamed.

Wu ran.

He sprinted after Cole, trying to get away from the Dragon. It would be so much easier if he could fly, but his father had told him to only reveal his true form to those he was absolutely certain he could trust. And while Wu trusted Cole, he barely knew him.

“It’s a lightning Dragon!” Wu told Cole, yelling over the sound of the Dragon’s roars.

“I can see that!”

“They are not our friends Cole!” he knew it was obvious, he just wanted to make a point.

“I know! I was wrong!” Cole yelled back, “They’re mean! Just keep running!”

Yeah, like Wu was going to stop.

They bolted along the riverbed, following its twists and turns, hoping to find some kind of shelter to hide from the quite literally thundering Dragon behind them.

Wu looked over his shoulder. The Dragon was drawing closer and closer, their larger form easily outpacing the two smaller beings. Lightning zipped around their body, the flashes growing steadily bigger and brighter; they were preparing to strike again.

Wu turned back to the front, desperately searching for somewhere to hide, or at least avoid getting struck by lightning. He may have been able to use the element of lightning, but he wasn’t good enough to make himself immune, especially when the perpetrator was older and more experienced than him.

“They’re preparing to strike again!” he warned Cole, “We need to avoid it!”

“There!” Cole shouted, pointing ahead.

Wu followed his direction to a ditch in front of them, only a few metres away, perfect for at least dodging this lightning strike.

They jumped into it, landing heavily on their butts and sliding down the dusty slope. And just in time too; there was an explosion behind them, kicking the dry earth beneath up into the air as the lightning slammed into it.

And then there was silence for a beat, then two, then three.

Wu, following Cole’s example, peered over the ridge behind them. Nothing. Maybe the Dragon had lost interest in them?

But then the Dragon appeared again, growling as it launched itself over them and into the sky, soaring above them in circles, watching them.

“They’re a lot bigger than I remember,” Cole commented, sounding nervous.

In Wu’s opinion, the Dragon was pretty averagely sized. He wondered how old the Dragons the ninja had seen were if he thought this one was big.

Wu looked up at the Dragon again. He had seen that flying pattern before… It looked like how his dad would fly when he was supervising Wu and Garmadon’s hunts.

They were being used to teach the lightning hatchling how to hunt!

“We need to go!” he insisted.

But before they could act on that, the hatchling appeared at the top of the ridge, growling at them with a tiny voice and sending them flying back with shock.

“Ahhhh” Wu screamed.

Cole scrabbled at the ground, making his way to his feet, dragging Wu with him, “Let’s go!”

They started running again, this time pursued by the baby.

It was slower than Cole and Wu, and they quickly gained ground. Apparently too much ground, because the parent decided to soar after them and send lightning bolts crashing around them, attempting to slow them down.

They zig-zagged across the desert, dodging the electrical currents slamming down onto the ground.

Wu squinted through the dust the lightning was causing, trying to find a way out of this situation.

Cole must have been thinking the same thing, but with more success at seeing through the dust, “We need to find shelter!” he pointed at a rapidly approaching rock formation, “Take cover in there!”

Wu used a final burst of energy to make it to the entrance of the shelter, quickly ducking inside.

He turned to Cole. He was holding his hand out back towards the entrance, his arm glowing with magma; he was using his elemental abilities to block the Dragons from getting into their hiding place.

The rocks trembled as a few came tumbling down, sealing them inside.

Wu, who was even more exhausted now, collapsed on the floor as soon as they were safe.

“Well, that was a learning experience,” Cole said, sounding much less out of breath than Wu felt.

Yeah, no shit . Wu's dad would probably have his head for swearing, but he wasn’t here, and it wasn’t like he said it out loud.

Groaning, Wu rolled onto his stomach in order to get a better look at the rocky shelter they were in. Now that the little godling was inside it, he noticed that it didn’t look natural at all. Gazing around in the dim, orange light, he was quickly drawn to the far side of the room; there was a massive artwork, its characters arching all the way up to the ceiling.

Wu got up to have a closer look. It was beautiful – swirling depictions of both Oni and Dragon filling the wall. The red and yellow ochre it was made of gave the illusion it was glowing, or maybe it really was – the First Spinjitzu Master had always said that the Immortal Realm played by its own rules.

“What is this place?” he asked Cole, not really expecting an answer.

Cole stepped closer as well, seemingly entranced by it, “Huh, it looks like we’re not alone in this realm.”

Wu looked back at Cole, wondering if he was stupid, “Of course we’re not alone. This is the realm of Oni and Dragon . There are Oni and Dragon here.”

That being said, it didn’t look like the art the Oni did. They would often depict stories and tales in their art, both of their history and myths (though the line often blurred between the two). This seemed rougher, hastier, and without direction, like it was a warning more than a story.

Wu walked over to the painting, inspecting it. Maybe there was some indication of who drew it? He crouched, looking down the bottom for some sort of writing or insignia. That was where Oni usually put any written notes accompanying their art; it made it easier for pups to read.

Wu scanned the base of the rocks. There! In the very corner of the piece were some sort of scrawled symbols.

He crawled over to them, hoping to be able to decipher them.

But upon actually seeing them, the Dragoni sat back, blinking in shock.

“Actually, I think you might be right,” Wu said.

“What do you mean?”

Wu beckoned for Cole to come closer, pointing at the writing.

“Look, it’s in Ninjargon.”

“Yeah, so what?” Cole asked, crouching next to Wu.

“Cole, neither Dragons nor Oni write in Ninjargon. Most of them can’t even speak it.” Wu insisted, hoping he would work out what he was trying to say.

Cole turned to Wu, concern spreading across his features. “So that confirms it. We’re not the only humans in this realm. We’ll to warn the others when we get back,”

He sighed, getting up and walking to the blocked entrance, “For now, we need to wait and make sure the dragons are gone.”

Wu thought for a second, his dad had always instilled in him to never reveal the extent of his power, lest people start targeting Wu before he could confidently defend himself. But he was sure using a fraction of his power to see if the Dragons were still waiting outside would be fine.

Breathing deeply, he made sure Cole wasn’t looking before closing his eyes and letting a bit of his power extend beyond himself and the cave, searching for any external lightning-touched souls. Nothing.

Satisfied, Wu got up, going over to stand next to Cole, “They’re gone,” he reported.

The ninja glanced at Wu curiously, “How do you know?”

“Just do.”

“Okay then,” Cole cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, “Right, stand back. I’m gonna blast these rocks out of the way.”

Wu hastily took a few steps back, not wanting to end up being hit by stray rocks.

Cole held his hands out, arms glowing once more as the rocks started shaking. Wu watched curiously as they flew back all at once, booming as they hit the ground outside.

While he had noticed the way Cole’s arms glowed when using his elemental powers earlier, he hadn’t had the time to think about it. But now, when they weren’t running for their lives, he could now properly observe the way they lit up from within like molten rock. Wu had known a number of earth elementals over the course of his life so far, but he had never seen anything like it before. He decided he would ask about it. Later though, after food.

As they walked out, Cole spoke again, “Cool, at least we now know where some food is. I’m starving.”

“Same,” Wu agreed. He didn’t think he’d gone this long without food ever.

Now that he wasn’t so focused on finding food, Wu could appreciate the scenery of the First Realm a lot more – its endless yellow and red dust and sand and the brilliant pale orange sky, all lit by an inky black sun, the likes of which he had never seen before.

It was slowly sinking towards the horizon, casting long shadows on the ground as they walked back along the riverbed to the fruit plants.

“We should hurry,” Cole said. He too was looking at the setting sun, worry creasing his brow, “We don’t know what kind of things come out at night.”

He had a point, so Wu sped up, power walking through the scrub.

They quickly reached the fruit, gathering as much as possible into their arms. Wu felt a little bad, he was pretty sure he could have carried more if he used his powers, but the words of his father rang very clearly in his head, ‘do not reveal your powers to those you do not know well and do not trust.’ So he didn’t use them.

Once they had enough, the duo swiftly moved back in the direction of the camp, hoping to get there before night fell properly. They walked in a comfortable silence, the only thing breaking it was the soft sounds of their footsteps hitting the dry clay and sand.

But even with their quickened pace, it was still dark by the time they made it back to camp.

It was because of this that Wu, who’s Oni blood allowed him to see in the dark, noticed the problem much faster than Cole, who had already started rambling about dinner.

He tugged on Cole’s ripped Gi, signalling for his attention, “Where’s the flying ship?”

Cole looked around, finally noticing that it – along with all their friends – was gone, “That’s not a good sign.”

Wow, really? Wu would have never guessed that. He wandered closer to where the ship should have been, hoping to spot some clues about its disappearance.

He soon spotted some strange markings indented into the ground. They were everywhere, crisscrossing all around the campsite and leading off into the distance.

“Look! Tire tracks!” Wu announced, “They lead this way!”

He wasn’t sure how he knew what they were, since he had never seen them in his life, but he assumed it had something to do with his missing memories.

Nevertheless, he started following them up the hill, determined to locate the Ninja and the ship.

“Where are you going,” he heard Cole call after him.

“To find our friends.”

Chapter Text

Fortunately for Wu, the tire tracks hadn’t gone on for more than a few hours before reaching what looked like a settlement of sorts. While he had eaten the fruit he and Cole had found, it did little to stave off the exhaustion that came with being on his feet for well over a day without sleep – the earlier determination had worn off pretty quickly.

The settlement was small, filled with various half-made buildings and vehicles sinking into the desert and was lit up brightly with thousands of glowing torches. It didn’t look like any village Wu had ever seen, and it was too carelessly built to be an Oni construction. It must have been made by the same people who drew the painting in the cave.

Once they had reached it, they had quickly decided to wait until daylight to check it out. The darkness of the night may have been a good enough cover to not get caught, but it didn’t matter if they were dead on their feet – though Cole seemed much more alert than he did.

It was either a Ninja thing or an adult thing, Wu didn’t know which. His dad was almost always awake when Wu woke up in the night unless he was sleeping curled around his children – and he was both a ninja and an adult, so really, Wu had no control group for his wonderings.

Cole’s voice broke Wu out of his barely coherent thoughts.

“C’mon little master, we have to find a place to sleep for the night.”

Wu yawned, “Yeah, but where?” he was so tired now, he could go to sleep right here on the dirt. He really didn’t want to walk around looking for a place to sleep.

“There’s probably a cave we can take cover in. If not, I can always make one,” Cole smiled down at Wu, “It’s just a little more walking, then we can rest.”

“Could you-” he paused, thinking it through, “Could you carry me?”

Cole was most likely really strong – all earth Elemental Masters were – and Wu was pretty light, it should be fine. Hopefully.

“Yeah, of course.”

Cole reached down and under Wu’s arms and hoisted him effortlessly up and around his torso. Catching on, Wu wrapped his arms and legs around him, securing himself around the ninja.

“Comfy?” Cole asked.

Wu shifted slightly before tucking his head into the crook of his neck.

“Uh huh, thanks.”

“No problem little master.”

Cole started moving again, and Wu quickly drifted off to the steady rhythm of his feet hitting the desert floor.

Wu opened his eyes to a tunnel of bright light at the edge of his vision. Blinking, he slowly sat up and looked around. It appeared that Cole had indeed managed to find another cave for them in the rocky formations surrounding the settlement.

It was small, barely big enough to be called a cave really, with low curved walls made out of a rough red stone. And it was narrow - only a few metres wide – with a sharp bend near where he had been sleeping. A quick inspection told him that the cave stopped just beyond the bend. Not that Wu had been worried, he was sure Cole had checked it out before camping out for the night.

He stood up and walked to where Cole sat sorting some more fruit into piles. Unlike the brown fruit from yesterday, he recognised it – sunberry fruit, one of his dad’s favourites, and for a good reason. It was large, pink and juicy, and very sweet, and – according to his father – very nutritious (Wu still hadn’t worked out if this was true or just an excuse to eat it whenever possible).

Mouth watering, Wu sat back down next to Cole and immediately snatched some of the fruit up, greedily scoffing it down. Its juice soothed his dry throat. They’d exhausted their water supplies late last night, and while Wu technically didn’t need to drink water (being a god had some benefits) he still felt a lot better when he did.

“Well good morning to you too,” Cole said, laughing.

“Mormim,” Wu attempted to reply, mouth stuffed with sunberry. Swallowing, he continued, “Where’d you get these?”

“There’s a small stream only a few minutes walk from here. I found these growing along the edge. Speaking of…” he reached round behind him, grabbing the previously empty water bottles they had taken with them when leaving the flying ship the day before. “We have water again!”

“That’s good!”

Wu took one of the bottles and gently sipped at it, Cole, and the Ninja – when they found them – needed the water a lot more than he did, so he made sure to not drink too much. Which reminded him!

“When are we going to find our friends?” Wu asked.

“Well, we need to scout out the village before we can go find them. We don’t know what’s happened to them or what’s in the village, so we need to find out.” Cole said patiently.

Wu jumped up, “Come on then!” he insisted, pulling at Cole’s arm, “Let’s go!”

“Yep, I’m coming.”

They walked out of the cave and cautiously made their way towards the village – briefly stopping to make sure their supplies were hidden behind some more rocks – and ducked behind a stone ridge overlooking it.

Now that it was daylight, Wu took the opportunity to properly observe the village. There was a large arena in the centre, with ramshackle buildings spiralling outwards from it. They looked to be made of stone and hastily welded metal, and many of them had large, decorative tusks of bone attached to them. The inner portion of the camp was surrounded entirely by a high concrete wall. The wide metal gate near them appeared to be the only way in or out of the camp.

Scattered throughout the settlement were people with pure white skin and black hair, dressed in brown, heavy-duty clothing stacked with tools. They were milling around, attending to various jobs; hauling spare parts through the city, working at forges, transporting the Ninja in chains… The Ninja!

“There they are!” Wu said, pointing them out in the distance.

“Yep, I see them,” Cole agreed, “Looks like they’re being taken to that arena. But I don’t think they’re going to see a show.”

That settles it then, Wu decided. He didn’t want them to have to fight in an arena.

He jumped up, “Let’s go save them! C’mon!”

But before he could get very far, he felt Cole grab a hold of his hood, dragging him back to safety.

“Are you crazy? This place is crawling with hunters!” he exclaimed, “And getting caught is not on my to-do list today. We’ll have to wait it out.”

Wait it out? But the Ninja could be in danger now!

Remembering what Cole had said to him when they first arrived in the realm, Wu decided to argue with him.

“Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be done today.”

Cole spluttered, “Did you- did you use my words against me?”

“They were my words first,” Wu pointed out, feeling petty, “You just borrowed them.”

Cole rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I’m not putting anything off. I’m trying to come up with a plan,” he looked down at Wu, “What do you even expect me to do? Take them on all by myself?”

The ninja looked back at the camp, squinting at the arena, trying to see what was going on.

Noticing he was struggling, the Wu quickly conjured up a telescope – away from Cole’s line of sight – and held it up to his eye, scouting out the arena as well.

Cole looked at him, confused, “How’d you get that?”

“I borrowed it earlier, like you borrowed my wisdom,” he lied, refusing to elaborate.

Cole luckily, didn’t seem to feel the need to question him further.

Wu continued looking around the arena, searching for a way in. This would be so much easier if he could shapeshift in front of Cole, but he was too nervous of his reaction to even consider breaking his father’s rule – even though this was one of the situations where it would be fine.

But even if he did shapeshift into a hunter, that still left Cole unaccounted for. No, they needed a different plan.

He soon spotted a line of clothing left to dry just outside the gate. Perfect.

“There! We can use disguises!” he said, passing the telescope to Cole before jumping over the ridge and down the slope too quickly for him to react. If he didn’t go now, they would probably spend the whole day coming up with a ‘safe’ way to rescue the Ninja.

He sprinted to the clothesline as fast as he could, only stopping once he reached it, checking if Cole was following him. He was, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“Master Wu, you can’t just run off like that into enemy territory like that, what if you got caught?” he reprimanded, “Besides, I’m not very good at disguises, we should come up with a better plan.”

Wu didn’t say anything, but rather chose some clothes that looked like they would fit Cole, tore them off the line and shoved them at him.

“The Ninja could be in danger,” he insisted, “We need to act now.”

“Fine, but if this goes badly, don’t blame my acting skills.”

Really, how bad could his acting skills be?

Wu picked out some clothes for himself as well, and they quickly got changed, wrapping the chains around themselves as seemed to be the style here. It was odd, but he had seen odder.

“Right, so we’re dressed like the hunters, but we still don’t look like them,” Cole pointed out.

He had a point, so Wu looked around for some white paint to cover themselves with. No such luck - elemental powers it was.

“I think I see some paint over there!” he exclaimed before running a little way to the edge of the wall.

He crouched, hiding his hands from Cole’s view, and summoned his essence of creation, condensing it into a tin of white paint – perfect for disguising themselves as hunters.

He ran back over to Cole, who was looking at him suspiciously.

“That wasn’t there before…” he said.

“Yes it was, you just can’t see properly because you’re old,” Wu retorted. Never mind that he had actually lived longer, even if he was technically younger.

“Okay…”

Cole didn’t sound like he believed him, so Wu distracted him by opening the tin and starting to cover himself in the paint. Fortunately, the outfits they had stolen came with gloves, so they only needed to paint their faces and necks.

Once fully kitted up the duo made their way to hide near the entrance gate, hoping someone would open it so they could slip inside. It was a slightly more inconspicuous option than someone accidently seeing them jump over the wall.

Luckily, it wasn’t long before a group wheeling some sort of vehicle opened the gate and marched through it, leaving them with enough time to sneak inside.

Wu gazed around the camp, stunned just how crowded it was. Everywhere he looked there was someone working a forge, carrying meat, or talking to another. It was a lot busier than he had expected for a camp in the middle of the desert.

This turned out to be a good thing as everyone seem to be too engaged in what they were already doing to notice the newcomers.

Wu was following Cole along a wide open street when a loud roar sounded from behind him.

Startled, he spun around to investigate where it had come from. At first, he couldn’t see anything amiss in the bustling street, but a second roar allowed him to locate it.

A Dragon was rearing up and away from a large kiln, trying to escape the vengestone chains crisscrossing over their body. Some hunters were yelling and poking them with spears trying to subdue them.

Wu stared as one hunter whipped the Dragon across the snout, yelling unintelligible words at them. The Dragon cowed, whimpering in pain. It made him sick to watch even as he found himself rooted to the spot as the Dragon was harshly muzzled with an iron clamp.

Wu felt a hand land on his shoulder, pulling him away from them and back in the direction he was supposed to be going.

“C’mon, there’s nothing we can do for it right now. We have to keep moving,” Cole said gently, tucking him under his arm in a sideways hug.

He was right, but while Wu tried to push the incident out of his mind to focus on finding the Ninja, he made up his mind; he wasn’t revealing his true form within a hundred kilometres of the hunters. Who knew what they would do to a half Dragon, half Oni godling.

Wu and Cole continued towards the arena, the former even more determined to get his friends out of there, swerving between the various buildings and denizens of the settlement until they reached a large stone stairwell, leading into the arena.

It was intimidating to say the least, with giant pillars of bones – dragon bones Wu now realised – lining the sides and orange swirls adorning the square entrance.

They joined dozens of hunters streaming up the steps and through the gate, all chattering away excitedly. As Wu strained to catch their conversations, he came to the conclusion that they were right in their earlier assumptions; there was going to be a fight.

As they approached the gate, the distant rumble of talking and cheering grew louder, climaxing as they stepped through the gate into a large, circular arena.

The excited attendees were standing on massive stone steps, yelling and pumping their fists in the air as they prepared for the upcoming show. Wu looked down onto the stage where three colourful blobs were standing in a circle, looking back up at the hunters.

“Look, there they are!” he eagerly told Cole, happy they now had eyes on their friends again.

“Yeah, I see them,” Cole replied, squinting down at them, “But we’re in the cheap sets. If we want to help them, we should get closer.”

As he spoke, he started veering off to the side in order to claim a spot in the stands, but before he could take his eyes off of the Ninja, he ran into one of the hunters.

Wu gasped as the hunter turned around to glare at Cole, afraid they would be called out for their (and by their he meant Cole’s) blunder.

He was massive and heavily scarred, with a foreboding feeling around him. He leaned in, a scowl on his gruff face, “Who are you? I don’t recognise you.”

Shit, we’re dead.

Breathing in and squaring his shoulders Cole retorted, “And I don’t recognise you.”

The hunter huffed, “Everyone knows I am Skaar the Skullbreaker,” which was, admittedly, a pretty cool name, “Now, who are you?”

Wu looked to Cole, wondering how he was going to answer this without blowing their cover.

Cole spluttered, clearly caught off guard by the question, “Uhhh, we’re new to camp! The name’s Rocky Dangerbuff, and this is my son, Dangerbuff Jr.”

Those were not cool names, but Wu nodded anyway, hoping with all his heart that they would be believed.

There was a pause as the hunter – Skaar – stared at them.

But then he was nodding, “Aye, from the Dangerbuff Clan. I know Stalwart Dangerbuff!” Well that was a massive coincidence, but not one that Wu planned on questioning.

Skaar continued, “I bet he’d like to see you! Let me go grab him.”

He started walking away, presumably in the direction of Stalwart.

Wu and Cole looked at each other and made the decision to make a tactical retreat to some nearby free stands.

“You’re right, you are bad at disguises,” Wu told Cole as they turned to face the stage.

“Well I didn’t hear you speaking up.”

“A master knows when to keep his mouth shut.”

Wu had figured out on the journey last night that he must have been some sort of teacher to the Ninja; the reason they called him master and had asked him for advice.

A loud creaking sound brought his attention back to the stage. A previously unnoticed set of gates in the side of the stage was being slowly wrenched open. Wu assumed that the Ninja were going to be pitted against whatever was behind them.

The gates cracked open further and further until a being shot out, roaring at the crowd.

The Ninja were going to fight a Dragon.

Chapter Text

The crowd cheered at the Dragon’s arrival, filling the arena with the sound as they chanted over and over again one word — Slab. Wu winced; his sensitive hearing was making this whole situation a lot more unpleasant than it had any right to be.

Through the noise, he picked up an even worse sound. An irritating rattle that seemed to vibrate through his ears, clanging around in his head. He squinted down at the stage, locating the source. A hunter with a cow bell was trying, to get Slab’s attention, riling him up.

Wu groaned, covering his ears to block out the rattle. It seemed that the hunters were well versed in what irritated a Dragon.

Slab roared at the hunter, snatching him up and thankfully stopping the rattle. He tossed him around violently a few times, swinging him from side to side, before hurling him across the arena and back into the stands.

The Ninja continued to stand motionless, staring at Slab. Honestly, what were they thinking?! Were they trying to calm them down without having to fight? Because they wouldn’t succeed. Anyone who had been in captivity that long with irritants as their only stimulus would not go quietly. But who was Wu to judge, he wasn’t the one about to get eaten by an Earth Dragon.

A quiet growling caught Wu’s attention. It took him a couple of moments to realise it was him — a natural reaction to the wrath he was feeling towards Slab and the hunters. He tried to stop before Cole noticed, but it was too late.

“Hey buddy, you alright there,” he asked. He looked concerned, but fortunately not disgusted as mortals, particularly humans, had been known to be when Wu revealed his decidedly less than human traits.

He clenched his fist. “They are my friends. They are not for Slab.” But there wasn’t anything he could do about it, at least not directly by himself as he was tempted to. Not without revealing who he was, and there was no way he was going to do that, lest he joined the Dragons chained up outside.

Cole, as if reading his mind, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, W— Dangerbuff Jr, don't worry. Let's get closer and see what we can do."

Wu nodded and started weaving his way through the crowd to get to the steps, dodging various Hunters' excited movements as the shook their arms at the the fight.

As they walked down the steps — casually, so as not to draw attention — a cacophony of cheers roared through the stadium. Beside him, Cole groaned and buried his face in his hands. It didn't take much to figure out why.

Below them, Jay had broken off from the group and run to the edge of the arena stage. He was jumping up and down and enthusiastically waving something at Slab while the other Ninja were shouting at him. He had picked up the cow bell.

Wu felt his (currently metaphysical) hackles rise at the sound. He almost felt bad for Slab having to deal with it probably every time they released him into the arena. Almost, because now Slab was thundering after Jay as he ran around screaming.

Wu turned to Cole as they approached the edge of the stage. "I think Jay has lost it."

Cole winced. "Yeah, I think you might be right." He sighed. "Let's just hope he doesn't get himself killed."

Wu nodded sagely and started following the fence around the edge of the stage.

It was made with wrought iron, with tall white spikes that looked suspiciously like bone interspersed every few meters. But it wasn't very solid. It was clearly made to keep the Hunters from falling in, rather than to keep anyone from climbing in, or out, for that matter. No, Wu was sure the vertical drop of smooth stone below was enough deterrent for anyone who wished to traverse it. They were only mortal after all.

"So what's the plan?" he asked Cole as the Ninja yelled at each other below.

Cole shrugged. "We could try to get their attention? See if they have a plan."

From the way the Ninja were arguing Wu sincerely doubted they had a plan, but he didn't have a better idea.

He glanced over at the Hunters. They were still roaring at the fight, clapping whenever Slab managed to get close to one of Wu's friends. They wouldn't notice if he and Cole started talking to the entertainment.

Hopefully.

But he wanted to help, so he cast any doubts out of his mind and leaned over the railing, Cole following suit.

The Ninja were sprinting towards them, narrowly dodging blasts of sharp rocks. They were rapidly approaching a series of large rocks at the edge of the arena stage, the distance growing ever smaller as Slab rampaged behind them.

Wu's heart leapt into his throat as they turned sharply to avoid a boulder, running close to Slab. The Dragon raised their heavily armoured tail and slammed it down onto the earth, sending dust billowing around the Ninja, covering them and hiding them from sight.

Moments later Kai, and Kai alone, came screaming out from the dust, and Slab raced after him, footsteps shaking the ground.

Wu squinted as the dust fell slowly to the ground, where were the others?

Blue flashed from behind the boulder as Jay leant round it to watch Kai's swift procession around the stage, giggling. Zane stood behind him, staring at him. Phew. They were both alright.

Cole waved his arm and called out, "Zane!"

Zane tilted his head upwards and smiled at them, metal glinting in the hot midday sun. "Cole, Master Wu, you're here!"

"We've come to help!"

Zane shook his head. "Then you should leave," he said solemnly.

"What, why?" Wu protested.

"Yeah, we're trying to save you!"

"Master Wu is a descendent of the First Spinjitzu Master. He is part Oni. His mere presence may be making things worse," Zane explained.

Wu hadn't thought of that. The idea sat heavy in his stomach; he didn't want to make things worse for his friends. But he still wanted to help.

On the other side of the arena, Kai suddenly dropped into the sand. For a heart stopping moment Wu wondered if he was dead, but it appeared he was just pretending. Slab skidded to a stop, surprise written in their eyes. it was the most emotion Wu had seen them make other than anger.

They bowed their head to sniff the limp ninja on the ground, tail swishing passively. Ever so slowly, Kai twisted his head to face the other ninja to mouth something at them, but they just continued observing him.

This would be a lot easier if they had weapons, thought Wu. Or anything really. They were ninja, surely they would be able to take down one Dragon. He didn't question why they weren't using their elemental powers. It was most likely the same reason that he wasn't using his.

Cole stood up from where he was leaning over the rail and said, "C'mon, we should go."

"Maybe not…" Wu argued absentmindedly, looking around the arena. "I wanna help."

Crisscrossing over the stage were hundreds of glowing black and orange chains, forming a barrier between the stage and the sky. Vengestone chains. They must have been how they kept Slab contained. They would make a good weapon against them if the Ninja got their hands on some.

Sticking out from a tall column just a few meters away was on odd looking lever. Wu ran over to it — Cole following closely behind — and craned his neck to see what the lever was connected to. He hummed, he wasn't the best when it came to engineering, but he was pretty sure that if he pulled the lever, it would release a few lengths of chain onto the stage floor.

"What are you doing?" Cole whispered to him.

He waved him off and glanced around him. The Hunters were still too preoccupied with the fight (or rather the lack of it) below. Surely they wouldn't notice him pulling the lever. No one had noticed Cole and him having a conversation with the prisoners.

He pulled the lever.

Just as he suspected, chains silently dropped from the makeshift roof, slithering into a pile on the floor.

"There," he said resolutely to Cole. "Now we can leave."

They turned and started walking along the path towards the nearest exit. They only needed to go up the worn stone steps and then they would be safely out of the arena. It took all of Wu's effort to not break cover and run up them. The whole place was giving him the creeps.

Wu most likely wouldn't have noticed the Hunter — keeping his eyes fixed on the exit as he was — except that they were standing completely still and silent. Compared to the rest of the Hunters, the contrast was stark.

He was tall, even sitting down, and armed to the teeth, a Dragon bone strapped to his back and daggers lining his belt. Strapped across the lower half of his face was a heavy metal mask, while a bamboo hat shrouded his eyes in shadows.

And his head was following Wu and Cole up the steps.

Wu couldn't see his eyes, but he felt it as the made eye contact anyway. He knew something. Or at least thought he did.

A booming, scathing voice echoed through the arena and Wu tore his eyes away to try and locate it. "They have elemental powers! Hunt. Them. Down!"

Cheers erupted around the arena, and Cole swore softly under his breath. The half-Dragon stood still, muscles tensed and heart racing, as the Hunter rose from his seat. But he didn't make to grab Cole and Wu. Instead, he turned his gaze from them and swiftly made his way to the edge of the arena stage before gracefully jumping over the barrier and into the pit below.

Maybe the Hunters weren't as mortal as he thought, or maybe they were just sturdy from surviving in the First Realm for so long.

Cole grabbed Wu's hand and pulled him up the final steps before the exit, the sudden movement causing him to stumble.

They emerged out onto the entrance stairs, much quieter now that everyone had made their way into the arena.

It was only once they had well and truely made it into the depths of the village, far away from the arena, that Cole let go of Wu's hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently.

Wu frowned. "Yeah." Sort of, anyway.

"You sure? Because you seemed a little spooked back there."

Wu looked down at the ground. "Do you think our friends will be okay?"

Cole smiled uncertainly. "Of course. They've survived much worse than this. They'll be fine for now," he said. "What we need to do is try to find a way to get close to the big boss. See if we can find out what he's doing with them."

Wu nodded. Get close to the guys who would hunt him down without a second thought? He could do that.