“Do you think it’s dead?”

There was a sound like that of someone groaning before the voice answered. “Maybe... I mean if it is then whatever it’s got is ours.” Zeko felt something graze his pocket and remove one of his tool pouches before he pushed his upper body up and snatched it back.

“Not dead yet!” Zeko exclaimed as he stood up and stretched his arms out with a few pops coming from them. He also noticed that the ones who discovered him were both earth stallions but he didn’t engage in any conversation and took to summoning his Roc to their surprise and taking to the skies. “Damn how long was I down there, my skin even looks lighter...” Zeko gave himself a once over and not only figured that he needed a change of clothes but also saw that lack of sunlight did cause his skin to pale some. He noticed as he rode his massive avian that this hive was quite a ways from his residence, mainly due to the distant mountain that held Canterlot which he noted as being the furthest he’d gone from thus far. After nearly a half hour of flight he drew closer and closer to his home but took a detour and flew deeper into the forest surrounding it and jumped off of his mount entirely to free fall into a small clearing that held a decently sized hill.

“Ah so you’ve returned?” A voice growled as soon as Zeko floated the last few feet of his fall. He turned to the large figure perched on a wall like mass and saw a large serpentine figure staring at him. “Here I’d thought you had... krosis... forgotten me.” Sahloknir spoke despite the black spike through his mouth, preventing him from opening his mouth which would only make one curious as to how he managed to speak at all.

Zeko walked up to look at the carvings on the ground and was left confused. “Nope... still don’t understand what it says, but that’s not why I’m here.” The dragon didn’t move but he was confused as to why the young adult had literally dropped by.

“Hind siiv suleyk? If power is what you seek I cannot aid you... the words are unreadable to you. Unless a different, yah, pursuit is what you have.”

Zeko stopped looking over the etchings on the ground and instead focused on the sky. “I’m gonna have to really get serious now. The wedding’s coming up and I don’t have enough time to prolong anything so my goal for today is to kill the head dragon of the Gleaming Scales.” He jumped nearly four stories up and caught his trusted avian by the talon.

Sahloknir only let out a simple; “Hmm.” Before pushing himself forward with his wings and taking to the skies in pursuit of the alabaster haired teenager who was going in the direction of his house.

Once again Zeko dropped from the air to fall through the air and land unscathed onto his miniature desert where a mass of parasprites erupted from the sand to swarm him and to his semi surprise, nuzzle against him like kittens. “I wasn’t gone that long geez, where’s Xerxes?” The swarm dispersed save for one gold colored fuzzball that flew ahead to the house. Mist was visible through a window but the teenager decided against being seen for the time being and climbed up to his own window and landed in his own room. “I’m imagining that word spread of me getting kidnapped?” The parasprite seemed to nod as his owner took his ragged clothing off, grabbed a towel and a scroll. “Great guess I have to check in with... pretty much everyone who I’m usually with.” He thought as he moved through his house so silently and skillfully to the point where he’d looked Mist directly in the eyes as he slunk past her to enter his underground river and began to cleanse himself of the dried blood coating his body.

He would’ve been uninterrupted from his actions had a gust not blown by, bringing fresh green leaves with it. “You’ve returned. What happened child?” A group of brambles sprouted from a wall and from it stepped the same ancient alder that allowed Zeko to live in her forest from the beginning. She seemed concerned as Zeko nonchalantly lathered his messy hair free of tangles and clots of... fluid he hoped was entirely blood otherwise he would head back to the cavern he brought down.

“Eh, same old kidnapping routine... literally since they turned me into a kid, but I think that it was for the better.” He poured a bucket of water over his head and shook the suds free of his form.

“Harrowing... But you managed to find your way back and now you plan to?” The spirit let her tone read strongly as Zeko put on a black mesh undershirt and followed it with the remainder of a black kimono much like the red one he wore.

He slipped on a fresh pair of his calf high sandals and cracked a smile. “I’m gonna go kill a dragon.” He snuck out the same way he came in and managed his way out of the house entirely unseen by its other dwellers, even grabbing his gunbai and small scythe in the process. He stood outside and took a deep breath before looking up and seeing the circling wyvern that called itself a dragon. Zeko crouched down and exhaled as he jumped over fifty feet then grabbed onto Sahloknir’s spade tail once he was close enough.

“Where must we go thuri?” Zeko slipped at one point and scrambled humorously to not fall as the dragon started picking up speed but once he was comfortably on Sahloknir’s neck he pointed straight at towards the ocean at the very edge of the horizon. The two flew directly over Ponyville and immediately started to fly even faster to the point where only a well trained Pegasus could keep up with them.

As the two started to get closer and closer to the ocean Zeko realized something that could pose a not so minor problem to him. “I don’t know what this dragon looks like...”

(15 minutes later)

Sahloknir touched down on the red volcanic rock of the dragon lands allowing Zeko to jump off his back. “I shall watch the skies thuri, I am ready for battle at your call.” He took the the air and roared loudly but Zeko was more focused on finding his target but he remembered the vague description the dragons that interrupted his meeting had given him and started looking around for any that filled the description of a blue scaled, red eyed dragon. Of course due to the shinobi’s usual luck he wandered around for almost two hours asking any dragons he found but none had any helpful information, leading him to sit in a crater and rub his forehead.

“How the hell has nobody seen the oddity of a dragon I’m looking for.”

“Boy.” A voice boomed from above prompting Zeko to look at a suddenly darkened sky but his concern was abandoned as soon as flashing red and blue lights started to appear in the air, making way for more and more lights that spread out more and more along the sky but as soon as the young adult noticed a face against the light he knew that it was not an illusion. “I apologize if I startled you but after witnessing what you’re after I had to aid you in some way.” The full form of the dragon was visible as it’s... membrane shifted from pitch black to blue with orange wingtips and accents.

Zeko lowered his guard at that. “So how are you helping me? You know who I’m looking for or are you what I’m after?” He only received silence as a response as the dragon landed and allowed Zeko to see that it’s form was as sleek and majestic as the ocean itself.

“Hm... I’m helping you help me, follow me.” The jelly like membrane of the dragon shifted as it turned and started to walk on all four of its powerful legs, Zeko followed behind as they went in one direction until the ground changed from red rocks to red sand until lo and behold on a higher perch was the exact same dragon Zeko was looking for. But as he tensed an arm it spoke

“Stay your weapons, I must speak to you.” Zeko stopped to listen but his curiosity grew when Sahloknir landed behind him and said nothing. “I’ve already informed your dragon of what I need, and I must ask you to help us.”

“Excuse you?” Zeko was flabbergasted but continued to listen despite his outburst.

“I’ve cut my ties with the Red Claw and the other groups once I discovered that they wish to raise Apoxis himself. You may not be familiar with whom this being is but count yourself lucky for this. He is an ancient being that only seeks destruction and calamity.”

“Doesn’t sounds much worse than the Discord guy but I’m assuming it has to be for you to cut your ties and ask an enemy for help.” Zeko chuckled at his statement despite the serious tone.

The blue scaled dragon looked at its ward that stood beside Zeko before it spoke again. “You will see in one way how Apoxis cannot rise again, my ward will guide you to the mark bearer for the Gleaming Scales and you will kill him. Before you ask why know that he is a descendant of Apoxis and is much more dangerous than I as the leader. He hungers for all and was a better choice for the runic seal.”

“So the Gleaming Scales have stepped down? Makes my life easier, and I just have to beat one guy? I’m detecting a catch...”

“I pleaded with Dragon Lord Torch for aid and he refused for the safety of all Dragonkind to dispatch of the bearer himself, do not enter its lair unprepared or you will become its next meal.” As that was said the jelly fleshed dragon and Sahloknir both began to fly while Zeko jumped onto the blood dragon’s neck again and followed their guide to the beach. During the flight he noticed that the colorful dragon didn’t flap its wings at all but simply soared through the sky much like a ray in the water

“So how are we doing this?” They landed again and a silver mist started to coalesce around the blue dragon before it flapped it’s now smaller wings to clear the vapor.

“Your guide cannot follow you to the beast’s lair.” She spoke with a soothing voice. “And for one thing my name is Namielle, we have to swim down to find the beast and end its life. From what the elder told me this creature is very dangerous and if we make any mistakes we will die so if you have any question on what to expect then ask now.”

Zeko threw a glare at Namielle from how her tone implied that he wasn’t capable but he digressed since he was fighting something entirely new and was supposedly able to frighten the dragon lord into not fighting it. “For one Nami I want to know-

“That’s not my name.” She stopped him and they glared at one another before she gurgled and blasted water at him. “Water and electricity are mine to command and if you don’t want to end up dead before we-“ The crackling sound of Zeko’s lightning armor made her stop but the sound of the water vaporizing made her eyes widen momentarily but she regained her blank expression once again.

“I like your kuudere personality but don’t try and compare our skills because we aren’t enemies here. So Nami what is the name of what we’re fighting and what are the three most dangerous qualities about it?” His second sentence was much less hostile as he dropped the aura and regained his calm tone.

Nami decided to bite the bullet and respond since she was ordered to help him as opposed to her original orders. “It has no name that elder told me but it’s deadly in every way. It spits a sticky gel that will force you to bond with the next thing you touch, it’s armor is made of bones, and worst of all is that we don’t know what it looks like so we have no idea what’s waiting for us down there.” Zeko cracked a smirk and shrugged his shoulders in an ‘oh well’ gesture once she finished

“I’m ready, let’s go.” As soon as he said that she came closer to him and wrapped her wings around him then leapt into the water. “Is this what babies feel like?” He commented on the soft membrane that warmly caressed him but as soon as he got comfortable he was thrown out onto a crunching surface. Once he stood up he was greeted by the same emotionless face but now she was a little different... she seemed more vivid in color but before Zeko could ask about it the ground around them started to shift until two heads of reptilian creatures attached to long necks burst free of the ground and behind them was a mass of what looked like a shell.

Zeko wasted no time in flinging his scythe at one of the heads and chipping some of its bone armor away but as soon as they were removed he dove to dodge the other head sweeping at him while Nami was out of its range. Before he could try to attack again the first head made a move and pushed straight towards him but missed as he jumped onto the back of its neck, the second head tried to bite him but a gurgle and a blast of water pushed it backwards which let Zeko jump and send a fireball straight underneath him. The head reeled back and shook the flames off violently. “It seems that fire is more effective than water.” The still drenched head was moving for her with its jaws open, she didn’t move anything aside from her right wing that had a spark at its tip and once it contacted the creature the water burst into steam and blew off a good deal of bones.

“Good hit!” Zeko was on the back of the shell, he charged his fan with lightning and swung it against the shell, forcing the beast to to violently shift and thrash its heads around as the weapon began to pierce the shell. “Damn! Tough shell to crack.” One of the heads started swinging Zeko’s way and was dodged easily but when the monster raised its body some from the bones he was concerned, even more so when a giant blue blob of fluid came at him. “Shit...” A direct hit sent him careening to the ground but the worst came when his arms and torso were encased in bones, his legs having a few attached to them as well

Nami noticed that Zeko was ultimately trapped and flew towards him but the beast was faster and in two swift moves managed to knock her away with one head and bite down on the shinobi with the other. “Struggle! No matter what you can’t let it devour you!” More bones piled onto Zeko’s legs as the bone armor started to latch onto him, as much as he struggled it was in vain as the creature started to tighten its grip. It’s other head and part of its body kept Nami at bay with mixtures of rushing sweep attacks and ejections of the blue slime. The scraping of jagged bones along his form started to tear his outfit and a single one managed to cut his right cheek along his cheekbone.

“I refuse to get eaten in a marinade of bones! Shinra Tensei!” With those words not only did the bones fling free from Zeko’s form but also the slime coating, the monster’s heads and body... along with a great deal of the floor and Nami herself. “I hope that one hurt.” He floated down with his Rinnegan active and twirled his gunbai.

Zeko glared at the beast ahead of him, he didn’t need to be an expert psychologist to feel the rage radiating from the slowly rising beast. He and Namielle were completely unprepared when the monster reared up and, for a lack of better words, revealed it’s true colors... and it’s horrific beaked maw laden with rows of wickedly sharp teeth.

The monster in front of them quickly shifted to a demon once it unleashed its ear-splitting, sky cracking roar with so much force behind it that its enemies that were present recoiled at the sheer fury present. Zeko wasn’t staggered for long, he burst back to the limb that grabbed him and swung his weapon straight into it. Bones broke and muscle fought against him but his attack was stopped once the other appendage was brought next to him and started to glow red at the mouth before firing a dark crimson beam straight at him, hitting him square in the side and sending him straight into a wall of the cavern but the monster failed to fire another one at Nami once Zeko slammed into its other limb as his copy turned to sand. He jumped back and watched as Nami flew closer and started sending a massive flow of water from her mouth to the shell of their enemy, the fluid encasing it more and more as her body started to glow brighter, her bioluminescent colors flickering more and more until her wingtips sparked and she slammed into the beast as well causing a the water to instantly vaporize and an explosion to blow bones straight off the monster. The beast roared again and dove its limbs into the bones below them and when they came back the tips were replaced by a club like bone and a razor sharp bone. “Now it’s using weapons, I hope you can dodge Nami!” Zeko said as he evaded a swing from the blade while the club swung for Nami and struck her body and flung her to the ground. The massive monster rose up and aimed itself at Namielle as it opened its mouth and prepared to attack again.

“I’ve dried myself out, and I can’t move after that hit!” Nami struggled to get up but she couldn’t work herself from her crumpled position despite her best efforts. Luckily her partner in this advent was quickly in front of her as a crimson ball formed in the maw of the multi limbed beast. Zeko stood and put his hands into the tiger seal, his chakra surging to the point where blue wisps started forming around his body. His eyes both gained three tomoe as the crimson ball grew more and more as his own chakra flared.

Zeko smiled internally as he charged himself up more and more until his body was encased in lightning but it quickly started to corrupt and turn black as night. He separated his hands as the crimson orb reached its zenith and a colossal beam fired at him, Nami closed her eyes but Zeko grinned and put his hands forward to catch the blast and get pushed back from the sheer force behind the attack. “This...” He started to trudge forward while holding the massive blast. “Might be at...” He lost some ground and was pushed back again but he continued forward against the onslaught of raw power that he was opposing. “Tailed beast levels...” He couldn’t tell how long had passed but he could tell from how much more intense the force was that he was only a few feet from the monster cephalopod. “Shiro won’t be ready for this one!” He drew his right arm back as he held the concentrated energy, he lowered himself and thrust his body forward into a lateral bolt of lightning that pierced straight through the focus point of the blast... and through the shell of the beast until he struck a rainbow colored object and leapt backwards to the face of the monster once again. He dropped his onyx cloak as the beast bellowed in pain that it had never known, it flailed its bone encased limbs wildly and struck larger carcasses along with any rock formations around as it charged a a Hail Mary blast in its mouth and aimed at its now exposed enemy. “I guess that was a last resort? I’ll chalk this one up as my second favorite blasting octopus.” With a clenched fist he delivered a powerful diagonal uppercut and forced the deep red blast to hit the ceiling of the cavern while the kickback sent the beast straight into its bone riddled resting ground.

Nami looked on in shock as the ceiling crumbled and gave way to reveal the light of day... along with an unfortunate cow that suffered from wrong place wrong time. “Never did I picture- No... never could I understand that the Nakarkos would fall... I watched it but I don’t believe it, the elder-“ She stopped as the corpse began to glow a light blue until crimson light rose from it and moved like a snake as it left through the roof of the cavern. The abyssal dragon was so distracted by the spectacle that she didn’t notice her pain fading and the green aura coming from Zeko’s hands. But once she could stand she did and she flew ever so gracefully from the cavern while the white haired shinobi made a few bounds to leave.

Directly outside of the hole he found Sahloknir sneering at a group of Minotaur while he saw Nami flying away, no doubt in his mind to tell of what happened below the surface. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t watch it, but you just took down a descendant of Apoxis.” A relatively smaller Minotaur with leather straps across his chest spoke.

“That certainly doesn’t make me feel confident about this ambush but orders are orders.” A bare chested greatsword wielder with asymmetrical horns added. The rest of their gang drew their weapons as Zeko wiped a thumb across his scraped cheek and glanced at his torn blue top.

“No rest for the weary I guess.”

Author's Notes:

Wow... I’m so sorry it took this long... both my grandmas caught corona and my cousins had to live with us for a bit so I’ve been distracted but I’m still in the game.

Wash your hands, wear your anime shirts, and buy what you need. See you next time