The coliseum roared to life.
Dust rose in swirling spirals, stone pillars cracked under the pressure of awakened training dragons, and the air shimmered with heat as Danny, Swift, and Jake shifted into their humanoid-dragon forms. Wings unfurled. Scales gleamed. Chi pulsed through the arena like an electrical storm.
The dragons charged.
Master Oro stood above on the observation platform, arms folded, face calm as still water.
"Remember," he called out, "your goal is not victory. Your goal is control."
Jake screamed back, "Control is overrated!"
A stone dragon slammed into him, sending him flying into a pillar.
Jake groaned. "Ow…"
Swift rolled under a boulder-sized claw swipe, sliced upward with a silver chi arc, and leapt into the air as another training dragon swooped down. Danny met him mid-air, golden wings flaring.
"Swift—your left!"
Swift twisted, narrowly avoiding a tail strike that shattered the ground where he'd been standing.
Jake stumbled back into the fight. "Is it just me or are these dragons way angrier today?!"
Sedge Hat appeared behind him mid-punch. "Oh ho… I increased their aggression to seventy-three percent."
Jake screamed. "WHAT?!"
Danny exhaled, shifting fully into dragon form—massive, golden, majestic. He grabbed a stone dragon in his claws and threw it into another. The impact shook the whole valley.
Master Oro nodded.
"Good. Now shift back."
Danny glowed and collapsed into his humanoid-dragon form, panting.
His control was improving.
But he still wasn't ready.
None of them were.
Not for Bones.
Across the Cosmos… Bones WatchesFar away—beyond nebulae, beyond galaxies, beyond time—Bones drifted through a dying star system. His emerald glow lit the void like an infection in the night.
And orbiting his skeletal frame like cursed moons were the Six Sealing Stones.
They made a soft chiming sound—notes that weren't music but warnings. Warnings the universe no longer remembered how to heed.
Bones snarled.
His voice echoed through the vacuum.
"Mock me… all you wish…"
He tried again—pouring cosmic energy into one of the stones.
The stone didn't crack.
Didn't scorch.
Didn't even warm.
It simply chimed again.
Bones' jaw clenched. His fingers dug into the stones, producing no mark.
"You will break," he hissed.
"You MUST break."
The stones didn't answer.
They didn't need to.
Their silence was victory enough.
Bones shook, energy flaring violently.
His roar shattered three planets.
"They think they can seal me again.
They think they can bring the stones back together."
He paused—suddenly still.
Something tugged at him.
A ripple.
A spark.
A shift.
He felt Danny.
He felt Swift.
He felt Jake.
He felt their chi awakening.
And he felt… Buddy technology in use.
His eyes burned brighter.
"Enhancer pills… Magic Water… Oro's training…"
Then Bones sensed something that made his soul burn with hatred.
"They are learning dragon forms again.
How amusing.
Let them grow."
His grin widened into something monstrous.
"I will take their power too.
Before they take my stones."
The Six Sealing Stones chimed, orbiting faster.
Bones savored the sound.
It was the sound of doom coming.
Back in the Coliseum… A Rival WatchesUnseen by Danny, Swift, or Jake, a small violet rip opened high above the arena—too tiny to alert Buddy sensors, too subtle for even Sedge Hat to detect.
A hooded figure hovered in the breach.
Silver eyes.
Six iridescent wings.
A cloak woven from cosmic threads.
They watched the three dragons below with intense, hungry interest.
"Impressive," the winged figure murmured.
"The Golden One… strong. But unstable."
They watched Swift execute a twisting aerial strike.
"The Silver Blade… precise. But wounded deep within."
They watched Jake take two dragons head-on.
"The Bronze Titan… raw power. But childish."
The figure smiled—cold and calculating.
"These three will be a delight to destroy in the Omega Arena."
They closed the rip.
Not a trace remained.
Buddy Tech in ActionBack in the coliseum, Danny swung his wing-blades upward, slicing through stone scales. Jake wrestled a dragon to the ground, roaring triumphantly—until the dragon bit him.
Hard.
Jake yelled. "It bit me! It actually bit me!"
The dragon hurled him across the arena. Jake hit the ground, his humanoid-dragon form flickering.
Master Oro frowned. "Jake is over-exerted."
Sedge Hat nodded. "Oh ho… time for a Buddy demonstration!"
He snapped his fingers.
One of the Buddy Enhancer Pills shot from Jimmy's briefcase and smacked Danny in the forehead.
Danny groaned. "Ow!"
Swift called out, "Sedge Hat, that's violent delivery!"
Sedge Hat shrugged. "He's young. He'll heal."
Danny picked up the capsule, still rubbing his forehead.
"Oro! Are we allowed to use this?"
Master Oro nodded. "Observe what happens."
Danny glanced at the training dragons swarming Jake.
He swallowed the pill.
Immediately—
His chi exploded.
Golden flames ignited around him.
His wings doubled in size.
His claws sharpened.
Muscles surged under his scales.
Fire burned in his eyes.
Jake blinked. "Danny?!"
Danny soared through the air like a comet—slamming into the dragon pinning Jake, breaking it cleanly in half.
Jake gasped. "DUDE. That pill is insane."
Danny panted. "Feels like… fire… running through my blood."
Master Oro raised a warning hand.
"Remember—temporary power always has a cost. When the pill wears off, you will crash."
Danny nodded, already starting to feel the burn.
Another dragon charged Jake. He barely dodged—and collided with a pillar, cracking his ribs.
Swift flew down, grabbed Jake, and pulled him away—but Jake's body wasn't healing. His transformation flickered between human and hybrid form.
Sedge Hat sighed. "Clumsy child. Oro—give him the water."
Master Oro retrieved a small crystalline vial—the Magic Water—and handed it to Swift.
Swift didn't hesitate.
He poured the water into Jake's mouth.
Jake gasped—
His aura flared bronze.
His wounds sealed instantly.
His scales strengthened.
Even his dragon horn thickened.
Jake stood straight. "Oh… wow. I feel amazing."
Master Oro nodded. "Magic Water heals, but also recalibrates chi channels. Its effects are never merely physical."
Jake flexed. "I could fight ten more dragons!"
A dragon behind him roared.
Jake flinched. "Or maybe three."
Swift sighed.
Danny crashed to the ground—his Enhancer Pill wearing off—falling into human form, exhausted.
Swift knelt beside him. "You okay?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah. Just burned out. The pill… hits hard."
Master Oro stepped down into the arena.
"You all handled yourselves better than expected."
Sedge Hat hummed. "Not dead. Good improvement."
Jake grumbled. "Thanks for the support."
Danny sat up, breathing hard. "Master Oro… we're training so hard. But Bones is immortal. He has the stones. And we don't even know where to begin finding them."
Swift added, softly, "…His stones came from Espearia. If I hadn't moved that stone long ago—"
Oro stopped him with a raised hand.
"The past cannot be undone.
But the future can be shaped."
He looked at the three of them.
And told them something that made the mountain wind fall silent.
The First Clue"There is a way," Oro said, "to track the Sealing Stones."
Danny's eyes widened.
Swift stood at attention.
Jake almost dropped his tail.
Oro continued.
"The stones emit a frequency—older than magic, older than chi. It is called the Harmony of Stasis. Bones' presence masks it normally, but… every time he attempts to break a stone…"
Sedge Hat grinned knowingly.
"…the frequency leaks."
Danny's heart pounded. "So every time he tries to destroy a stone… he accidentally reveals its position?"
Oro nodded.
"Yes. For a moment. A single moment."
Swift whispered, "We can track him."
Jake pumped a fist. "We can get the stones back!"
Master Oro held up one finger.
"Correct.
But only one stone at a time."
Sedge Hat tapped Danny with his cane.
"And guess what, Mr. Chan?"
Danny blinked. "What?"
Sedge Hat smirked.
"He just tried again."
Master Oro pointed toward the horizon.
And for a split second—a flash of green light pulsed in the sky.
The first stone's direction.
Danny rose to his feet.
"Then let's go."
Swift's eyes burned silver.
Jake's bronze aura shimmered.
Master Oro nodded.
"Prepare yourselves.
The first stone…
awaits."
Far beyond space, Bones paused mid-roar.
He felt them.
Searching.
Hunting.
He grinned.
"Come find me then."
The stones chimed.
And the hunt began.