Ninjago: Future

Chapter 4: Imperium's Prisoners

It was breakfast time at the Monastery, and everyone was enjoying a bowl of cereal.
"I've heard about this race called the 'Mechmaster 5000' that's going on today," Lloyd began, "I might get some tickets if anyone wants to come with me.
"Sure! I'll tag along." Yue replied.
"Same here," Kyle added, "Sounds like fun."
"Alright, then!" Lloyd remarked, "Once you two are finished eating, make sure to go get ready."
The twins nodded, before proceeding to finish their food as fast as they could.

At the Workshop

Sora was finishing off herself and Arin's mech that they were going to be using in the Mechmaster 5000, whilst Arin was talking to the Host, Mr Frohickey.
"We're in it to win it this year!" Arin exclaimed.
"Arin, you say that every year." Mr Frohickey replied jokingly.
"Yeah, I know. But this time, I really mean it!" Arin called out.
"You also say that every year, Arin... but, whatever floats your boat. I wish you and Sora the best of luck."
"Thanks, Mr F," Arin said with a smile, "We're gonna need it."

At the race

"Kyle, scoot over!" Yue whisper-shouted.
"I can't! There's not enough space on these stupid bleachers!" Kyle replied.
"SHHHH! IT'S STARTING!" Lloyd whisper-shouted, making the twins immediately go quiet.
"Welcome, citizens from all of the merged realms, to the 5th annual Mechmaster 5000!" Mr Frohickey called out through his megaphone, "The rules are simple: injure anyone on purpose, you're out! Use weapons on anyone, you're out! Find loopholes in the rules, and, you guessed it, you're out! Otherwise, anything and everything goes. RACERS, ON YOUR MARKS! GET SET! GO!"

With Arin and Sora

As soon as Mr F shouted "go", Arin and Sora began practically gliding across the track in their mech.
"Come on, Sora, faster! We have to win this!" Arin called out.
"I'm trying! We can't exactly go that fast without the turbo boost! And we have to save that!" Sora exclaimed.
Arin sighed, "Alright alright..."

A little later

It didn't take long for Arin and Sora to reach the finish line.
"Arin, be ready to roll around in a HUGE pile of cash!" Sora said confidently.
"I'm guessing it's time to use the turbo boost?" Arin replied.
"Yep. Get ready, cause we're about to be the richest people in the history of the Crossroads!" Sora exclaimed, before reaching her hand out towards the turbo button.
She quickly stopped the mech after hearing an explosion take place in front of her. There was a giant pothole, with a small creature standing beside it.
"...is that a baby Dragon-?" she muttered to herself.
"Come on, Sora, press the turbo button already! We're so close!" Arin called out.
"Arin, there's a baby Dragon here! And it's being shot at by a bunch of flying vehicles from..." she took another look at the strange flying vehicles, "... they're from Imperium.... THEY'RE FROM IMPERIUM! Arin, we have to help that Dragon!"
"Come on, quick joking around! We're so close to winning the money!" he exclaimed.
"No, Arin, I'm being serious!" Sora replied, "...what would the Ninja do?"
Arin paused for a second, before immediately taking out Lloyd's hood from his satchel and putting it on.
"Full speed ahead, Sora," he began, "Let's go save that dragon."
Sora instantly put her hood up, too, and she drove around the pothole and towards the baby Dragon.
She reached out the mech's hand.
"Hop on, buddy!" Arin called out to the Dragon. It leaped onto the Mech's arm and climbed up and onto the top of the cockpit.
"WHO'RE THESE KIDS NOW!?" one of the people from Imperium shouted, "GET THEM!"
Arin, Sora and the Dragon all sprinted away as fast as they could using the mech.
"Sora, I think now's the time to use that turbo boost!" Arin exclaimed.
"Well, it's a good thing we saved it!" she replied, before pressing on the turbo boost button. However, it didn't work. She pressed it again, but nothing happened. She tried again, but even still, nothing happened. She sighed, before she heard a crackling noise coming from the back of the mech.
"Arin, I think our turbo boost mechanism got sabotaged!" Sora called out, before the mech crashed into the side of the bridge that it was on and exploded. Arin, Sora and the Dragon went down with it.
Just then, the Dragon's eyes began glowing a bright white colour. It turned to face Sora, and it shot her with a strange laser beam. In response to this, Sora's eyes and hands shone a luminous pink. She turned to face the remains of the mech, and she used her powers to put it back together. Arin's eyes widened. He had never seen anything like that before. Before he knew it, he was back up on the bridge and standing in front of Sora's brand new mech.
"How in the name of the FSM did you do that!?" he exclaimed.
"I honestly do not know," Sora began, "But now's not the time for questions. Now is the time to get this Dragon out of here!"
Sora held her mech's hand out to Arin and the Dragon, and they both hopped on, before Sora somehow made the mech fly away from the Dragon Hunters.
"Now it's my turn," Arin muttered to himself, before pulling out his grappling hook and grappling onto a nearby lamppost. He used his momentum to swing himself up in the air
"SELF-TRAINED WANNABE NINJA WITHOUT A MASTERRRRR, GO!" he exclaimed, before activating his Spinjitzu and flying towards the Dragon Hunters' vehicles.
He managed to kick one of the vehicles into another one, whilst also knocking down both of the Dragon Hunters that were in them.
"Eh. Close enough." he said to himself, before turning to face Sora, who was flying away from one of the Hunters. She turned away from the Hunter, only to launch the baby Dragon over the mech and towards the Hunter's vehicle. The vehicle ended up crashing into the vehicles that Arin had previously knocked down, creating an explosion.
"Yes!" Arin called out, before patting the Dragon on its head.
Sora landed behind them both, and she smiled briefly, before looking up with wide eyes. A half-tiger, half-man had jumped down from one of the vehicles and landed on the bridge. He slammed down the hammer that he was holding, making Arin, Sora, the Dragon and even some of the Hunters fall down.
"LORD RAS!" one of the Hunters said in a panicked voice, "We were just about to-"
Suddenly, Lord Ras had grabbed the Hunter by his collar.
"You failed me. You will pay for that once we get back to Imperium." Lord Ras said firmly. The Hunter rapidly nodded his head, before Ras released him and let him fall to the ground.
"D'you know who this guy is?" Arin whispered to Sora. She shrugged.
"Well, he doesn't look very nice."
Arin jumped up in the air and was preparing to kick-spin Lord Ras, however, before he could, Ras grabbed his leg.
"How did you-!?" Arin remarked, before Raz smashed him against the floor.
"Arin!" Sora called out, before turning the mech around and attempting to shoot the Dragon Hunters with the flames coming from the boosters. However, they dodged it, and Ras threw his hammer at the mech, breaking it apart. The cockpit slid across the bridge, and Sora looked over at the Dragon Hunters worriedly from inside of it. However, before she could react, Ras was in front of her with his hammer. He was about to hit her over her head, before he heard a strange noise behind him.
It was the baby Dragon.
The Dragon attempted to run away, but it was too slow. Ras managed to shoot it with his laser gun.
"You are just the first. I will hunt down your entire family, wherever they are," Ras began, before turning to face the Dragon Hunters.
"Get the prisoners on the train. QUICKLY." he ordered.
"Yes, lord Ras." all of the Hunters said in unison, before saluting at Ras and preparing to put Arin, Sora and the Dragon on the train to Imperium.
All three of them exchanged worried glances, knowing that whatever was going to happen on that train wouldn't be good.