Spirit's Wrath (Book 2 of Spirit's Calling)

Winds of Change

A/n: this might be a little disturbing farther on, so read with caution.

At dawn, the Ninja headed out to the sea.

At Y/n's insistence, neither she nor Cole spoke about her nightmare. Though given the concerned looks her brother and the others sent her, Y/n guessed they had a suspicion. Still, no one brought up the topic, for which she was grateful.

They rode on their elemental dragons out to the sea, playful banter passing between them the whole way.

Kai laughed aloud and sent his dragon into a spiral, shooting ahead of Lloyd, who led the Ninja. They fanned out in a loose V shape behind him, often disrupted when they flew over to tease each other, like Kai.

"Getting ahead of yourself, Kai?" Lloyd called. "I'm leading this charge." But despite this, he laughed along with the Fire Ninja. He spurred his dragon faster and flew up to Kai's, causing both to enter a spiral around each other towards the water. The tip of Lloyd's dragon's wing cut into the water, splashing it up into Kai's face.

Kai spluttered indignantly as Lloyd grinned mischievously. "Hah!" Jay cried. "That's one way to cool off a hot head."

"Hey!" Kai replied with pretend offense. "No one messes up my hair." He flew above Lloyd before diving at the water, aiming the splash at Jay, but the Lightning Ninja dodged and the water hit Zane instead.

Zane coughed in surprise as the water covered his metal form. Cole laughed and flew up to his side, calling, "You okay there, Zane?"

The nindroid smiled. "Affirmative. It'll take more than a little water to take me out."

Y/n was about to add her own quip when she noticed Jay looking back in alarm. "What about a big fish?" He cried. "Incoming!"

Below them, just under the water's surface, a massive toothed fish, at least as long as one of their elemental dragons, swam rapidly to catch up before leaping out of the water, snapping at Zane's dragon. It continued to leap out of the water as it chased them closer to the shore.

"There he blows!" Cole announced. At Y/n's look, he added, "Or she."

"Pixal says this is the one!" Zane affirmed.

Y/n had her dragon spiral to avoid the fish's bite. "We were confusing this with another giant fish?" She demanded bluntly.

Lloyd ignored her comment. "And now that they've taken the bait, let's reel them in and get them to the aquarium." The Ninja swerved to the side, aiming for a fishing boat they'd set up earlier.

But the threat of a giant fish didn't stop the teasing. "Let me guess, Kai," Jay snickered. "You caught one that big once?"

Kai laughed, gesturing to the fish. "Heck no. He was twice the size." The Fangfish leaped out of the water again, barely missing Kai's dragon. "Whoa!"

Jay kept his gaze on the fish. "He's almost as hungry as you, Cole," he observed.

"And twice as ugly as you, Jay," Cole returned without missing a beat.

The Ninja laughed, and Y/n felt the remaining nerves from her nightmare dissipate. Over the weeks she'd been with the Ninja, she'd quickly picked up on their friendly bickering. While she often struggled to come up with her own comebacks, she enjoyed listening to them. With each conversation she entered, they felt more and more like family rather than friends.

"It's time for the catch of the day," Lloyd called, fishing boat in sight. "In line formation!"

The Ninja quickly arranged themselves into a straight line, with Lloyd in the front and Cole taking up the rear. The plan was to lead the Fangfish onto the boat, and the line formation would help hide the boat until it was too late.