The earth shook to the rhythm of an ominous march.

Screams filled the air as crowds rushed down the streets.

A Komodo Dragon walked through the streets of Long Beach, California.

A Komodo Dragon truly worth the name, as even it’s tongue shattered the windows of skyscrapers, its claws crushing parked cars underneath.

 

“Mommy!”

 

A mother turned and screamed as her young daughter tripped and fell. A shadow covered the girl as the Komodo Dragon stepped forward.

 

Just then the woman caught glimpse of a yellow flash. Chronolock appeared before her, carrying the young girl in her arms. The mother took the girl and held her tight. She turned to Chronolock.

 

“Less thanking, more running!”

 

With that, Chronolock vanished once more, yellow flashes continuing to move civilians out of the way of the beast.

 

“Hurry it up, guys!”

 

Wonder Knight grit his teeth as sweat dripped down his brow.

 

“It’s…not…that…easy!”

 

The boy held a massive metal column on his shoulder as he ran towards the beast.

 

“Pink…can’t…you…copy…me…”

 

“No.”

 

Icy Rose lifted an eyebrow as she began creating a pillar of ice under Wonder Knight, lifting him up next to a skyscraper.

 

“But didn’t you…”

 

“No. I can’t make Wonder Knight copies. Ever.”

 

Voidspeaker heaved a sigh and slapped his face as he floated up next to Wonder Knight, who stepped off the ice pillar onto the roof of the skyscraper.

 

“Bro, you sure you can’t give her a chance? Like, at all?”

 

“Just…cast…the…ritual…”

 

Voidspeaker sighed and got to work, chanting his magic. The tungsten alloy tip of the column was dyed in black as he spoke.

 

“Bogey incoming!”

 

As Pink Star cried out, the Komodo dragon turned the street, marching towards Wonder Knight’s position. Wonder Knight grit his teeth and bent down, then jumped into the air as high as he could. He angled the column so the sharp, void magic coated tungsten-alloy tip was pointed down and held on for dear life.

 

The column landed with a mighty crash that shattered the nearby windows. It pinned the Komodo Dragon’s head to the ground as it pierced through and cracked the street. The beast let out a cry and then lay still.

 

Wonder Knight groaned and pushed off the ground from where he had landed.

 

“Nice work bro!”

 

“Good job, Wonder.”

 

“Yes, well done.”

 

Pink Star glanced at Wonder and began to smirk.

 

“Now you just have to carry it back!”

 

Wonder Knight groaned.

 

“Pink…can’t you…”

 

She turned to Wonder Knight with a bright smile on her face.

 

“No.”

 

---

 

A massive Triceratops charged down the outskirts of Mombasa, crushing everything in its path. People screamed and pushed on one another as they tried to flee.

 

But suddenly a voice rang out into the air.

 

It was not a shout, yet it rang in every ear present. It was not a command, yet all bowed to the authority within it. It held no emotion, yet it resonated in every heart.

 

The people felt their hearts calm. They stopped their pushing and screaming, helping one another to their feet as they evacuated in a brisk and orderly fashion, all working together to escape.

 

As they did, branches broke out from the ground and wrapped around the behemoth’s legs, bringing it to the ground. More branches grew, wrapping around the beast.

 

Miss Dayal, her sentence changed to 'community service' with the ILS, stepped before the beast. She lay a hand on its head as her eyes glowed with green light.

 

“You who slumbered underneath, feeding on the roots of the Earth, know the Earth’s embrace once more”

 

She continued to chant.

 

And the branches began to pull the beast down into the ground.

 

Until nothing remained but solid earth.

 

---

 

Off the coast of Scotland, a massive crocodile broke through the waves. A curious sight so far north.

But the cold was irrelevant to a crocodile far larger than any whale.

Its jaws broke the waves in half, while every lazy swing of its tail created the waves anew. Its teeth were like spears. Its scales were more like the solid walls of a castle.

 

So large was the beast, that it barely even noticed as eight tiny creatures leapt upon its back.

 

Nor did it notice as a large glowing circle appeared in the largest of the tiny creature’s furry paws, containing ancient runes pulsing with blue light.

 

But it did notice as a massive stone spike speared straight up from the sea floor into its belly.

 

And so the mighty giant died with surprise in its eyes.

 

“Oi, ya think ya can just waltz intae mah kingdom?! These ‘ere runes ah meant to take on a dragon! Ah well, looks like a feast tonight!”

 

---

 

Otagi Takemoro heaved a sigh, sweating in his full-body shinobi hakama. The former leader of the Village Hidden in the Mountain stood at the waterfront of Yokohama, staring out into the sea.

Matsura Marishi, the former leader of the Village Hidden by the Sea walked up to him, typing on a smartphone with one hand and munching on a bag of chips with the other. Her shinobi uniform…had been absolutely butchered, more a dress than useful combat gear. He couldn’t bear to even glance at it. Her entire head and face was exposed, for goodness sake! It was more like one of those…what did they call it, those cosplays! A formerly proud shinobi village leader…cosplaying as a kunoichi!

 

“Why the long face, old man?”

 

Takemoro’s vein bulged on his forehead.

 

“Could you at least look up from that infernal contraption when you’re talking to me?”

 

“L-O-L no. Girl’s got to keep track of her follower count, you know?”

 

Takemoro grit his teeth.

 

“Our villages are destroyed, our people are scattered, and yet here you are, pandering yourself for the entertainment of the idiotic masses!”

 

“You’re just jealous I get paid for being cute. Oh, and that my new school is way more popular than your boring old place L-O-L.”

 

“Do you care nothing for the end of centuries of tradition?! Have you no respect?!”

 

“Our traditions involved killing children and orphaning the survivors.”

 

“...they were heroes who sacrificed themselves to defend the honor of the village!”

 

“Villages that starved cause they were broke.”

 

Otagi Takemoro began to stir up his chakra.

 

“Perhaps we should finish our unresolved business.”

 

Marishi continued munching on chips, not even glancing up from her phone.

 

“No fighting amongst ourselves anymore. Emperor’s orders. Unless you want to break that tradition too?”

 

Takemoro ground his teeth and clenched his fists. He then took a deep breath and directed his attention ahead of him.

 

A giant, eight-headed snake approached Yokohama from the ocean.

 

This was his chance. When he defeated this creature, the whole nation would see the power of tradition and honor. They would learn to respect the past and follow in his footsteps. His Hidden Mountain Dojo would swell with eager disciples that held honor in their hearts and he could preserve the old ways in spirit at the very least.

Marishi then turned so her back was facing the monster. She threw away her empty chip back and wiped the crumbs off her mouth, before holding out her phone at arms length and making a ‘V’ in front of her face with her other hand.

 

“Hey there everyone, it’s your favorite ninja-idol, Scarlet Fox-sensei! Check this out, I’m about to crush this stupid snake, just as a little warm-up for tonight’s concert! I better see you all there! Don’t forget to like and subscribe, five lucky subscribers will get a free one-year membership to the Scarlet Fox Dojo! Love you all!”

 

Takemoro closed his eyes as his vein bulged once more.

 

How?

 

How did this imbecile have more students than him?!

 

But it was no matter. Today was the day he would show the world the difference between them. He stirred up his chakra and spun his hands together in complicated signs.

The water in front of him began to bubble and stir. Eight serpentine dragons made of stone shot from the surface of the water, wrapping and coiling around each other. They let out a roar and rushed across the sea, growing in size as they approached the incoming snake.

The snake counter with a roar of its own and charged forward.

Stone and flesh met with a crash, snake and dragon heads tangling as they tried to bite and crush the other. A snake head wrapped its neck around a dragon head and squeezed, crushing it to pieces. But the dragon’s severed neck split in two, each forming a new head that proceeded to bite the snake.

 

“Go!”

 

At Takemoro’s command, shinobi leapt onto the extended necks of the dragons. They unwrapped scrolls covered in patterns of characters written in special ink, laying the scrolls on the dragon necks. Each shinobi made a hand sign and the scrolls began to glow. Soon the characters began to grow and lifted off the paper, curling around the stone necks and rushing down towards the dragon heads.

The characters continued on…wrapping around the necks of the snake. Once they had covered the snake’s body the characters flashed purple and then constricted onto the snake’s scales. The snake roared and trembled…but it couldn’t move against the bindings.

Takemoro let out a sigh. He would never forgive that rogue-nin Chiyeko for stripping his students of their traditions…but he would acknowledge her sharing some techniques from the Scroll of Demonic Binding. It was an…acceptable olive branch…one he would not have personally been willing to extend.

 

Just then he felt a flash of chakra and heard a yell.

 

Matsura Marishi had leapt into the air, hurtling towards the snake.

 

“All right, Aisae, just like we practiced!”

 

Nothing happened as she continued to fly.

 

“I don’t care if you’re embarrassed! Oh, I’m sorry, ‘a proud kitsune who does not pander for mortals’. Fine, be that way, I guess you don’t need inari from the mortals either!”

 

With that, Marishi was covered in red chakra that formed fox ears and five tails around her.

 

“That’s more like it, LET’S GO!”

 

Fireballs formed around the tails as the kunoichi approached the snake. She swung her hand, red claws forming around it and slicing straight through one of the immobile snake’s necks. The fireballs around her tails shot to the sides, lighting the remaining seven heads on fire.

The kunoichi continued flying forward towards the snake’s main body, pulling back her fist. She let out a yell as she slammed into the snake, pushing all the red chakra into the snake. She then grabbed the snake and lobbed it into the air…

 

The snake exploded in a fantastic display of light and color, more like a firework than a living creature.

 

A few moments later Marishi landed back on the shore. A shinobi flickered and appeared before her, holding a large camera.

 

"And that's how it's done! Thanks for watching, everyone! See you all tonight! Don't forget to like and subscribe, Scarlet Fox-sensei, out!"

 

She made a puff of smoke with her chakra and the camera-nin cut the feed. She quickly walked up to him.

 

“Did you get all that?! Tell me you got the part where I punched the stupid snake.”

 

“I did, Scarlet Fox-sensei!”

 

“All right! We’re so going to trend for this!”

 

Marishi gave a high five to her camera-nin.

 

Otagi Takemoro was left gnashing his teeth.

 

---

 

Arvid stood at the back of a grav-jet, with a gauntlet on his wrist and metal boots on his feet. Cikizwa stood beside him. She handed him a small purple disk.

 

“Remember, you only have a second after you attach that before the gravity magnification activates. Make your shot count, unless you want to fight that thing the hard way.”

 

Arvid nodded grimly as he took the disk.

 

“I cannot help but wonder if this would not be easier with friend Elise…”

 

Cikizwa shrugged.

 

“It would, but she’s still getting upgraded at the moment. We’ll have to handle this one ourselves.”

 

Arvid sighed and nodded. He was also for the thrill of the hunt, the rush of epic battle. But this?

The back of the grav-jet opened. A massive kaiju marched through the desert.

…not even his ancestors had leapt from the sky into the jaws of beast such as this.

 

“Well, good luck! We’ll pick you up in a bit!”

 

With that, Cikizwa kicked Arvid out of the plane, waving as he fell.

 

Arvid screamed for longer than he would ever admit.

 

Eventually though, he managed to right himself in the air. He grit his teeth as he took out his sword, struggling to move against the wind blowing up into him.

But he managed to take aim. He held the hilt of his blade above his head, the point angled down towards the beast.

 

“Have at thee!”

 

With a shout he stuck the disk onto the blade and threw it at the beast’s head with all his might.

A moment later the disk activated, surrounding the blade with a purple aura.

And then the blade vanished, turning into a line connecting the sky and the ground.

The enchanted blade pierced straight through the beast’s scales.

As well as its skull, for Arvid’s aim was true.

 

The beast stopped and stood still for a moment. And then it crashed into the ground, sending a cloud of dust and sand into the air.

 

Arvid let out a sigh. He frowned as he felt power welling up within him.

 

One more for the saga, he supposed.