(a/n) I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but then I thought "its christmas eve. why not post it now?" so yeah, this is the prologue to the fourth and final installment of my "Fifth Dragon" series. enjoy.

A Tale of Two Times

Prologue

One was a time of peace, the other a time of chaos. One was a world of slumber, the other a world of war. One was plunged into prosperity, the other plunged into despair. One was filled with silent heroes, the other filled with power hungry villains. One was embraced by light, the other consumed by darkness. One was an age of happiness, the other an age of death. This is the story of these two times: their heroes; their villains; their sorrows; their happiness; their life; their end; and their convergence. This is the story of the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end.

~THE FUTURE~

It was raining, dark clouds hanging in the night sky over the half ruined city. Everywhere buildings were crumbling, fissures ran through every street. Cars and parts of them were scattered everywhere, some ripped in half, some crashed through buildings, and others dangling over the edge of the giant cracks in the streets. And there was an enormous red eye hovering in the sky like an immobile moon. But what was quite possibly the most disturbing fact of all was the people… they were stone. Almost everyone on earth had been turned to stone in an instant. The rocky remains of humanity were everywhere; panicked rock faces filled the streets. These were the expressions of the people when it was happening. When civilization was collapsing, when humanities time had come to an end. But still, some remained.

A very small group of survivors was left, protected by a special magic when the end had come. There had been nearly twenty, but now just over a dozen remained, the others having been captured and eliminated by the Destroyer of Humanity. Still the remaining survivors had hope. All they needed was a little time… or, rather, a little sand of time.

A survivor slipped silently through the streets of the city, hiding in the shadows so as to not be spotted by the eye in the clouds. Strapped to his belt was a cloth pouch containing what little he had been able to retrieve of the Sands of Time. In a previous battle the hourglass had been destroyed, and the sand had been collected by their enemies. He had managed to obtain some, though not as planned, winning it in a Xiaolin Showdown rather than stealing it without incident. But there were a few problems. First, he was now being chased by his enemy. The Destroyer, as the survivors referred to him, wished for all of humanity to be exterminated so that his demonic people could take the Earth. So, he sent out his five minions to hunt for any survivors. Second, using the sand was now a one way trip. When the hourglass shattered, the sand became unstable. So now, when the sand was used, it could not be reused. The small handful that he had managed to win was just enough to get him to when he wanted to be, but wasn't enough for the return trip.

"Riku… where are you Riku?" called his pursuer.

Riku sank back into the shadows as far as he possibly could. His clothes were soaked and his long, shaggy, dark brown hair was matted down against the lightly bronzed skin of his face. The sleeves of the black Xiaolin robe he wore had been torn off during the showdown and he had a painful cut running down his right cheek. He remained completely silent and still as his pursuer passed by, despite his blood boiling at the sight of him. The man who was chasing him had once been his father, but was now just his father's body possessed by some demon. He still looked human, but his eyes glowed blood red, two massive bat wings protruded from his back, a tail with a poisonous barb at the end stuck through a hole in the back of his pants, and his forehead was the Destroyer's insignia: The Seal of Thanatos. The outline of a diamond with the top corner cut off and a dot in the middle, two lines jutting off from the top two sides. It glowed red on Dark Rai's forehead.

"Come on out, Riku." Dark Rai called again. "You may as well get it over with. It's only a matter of time before my master eliminates the rest of your pitiful group… and then the demons can have what is rightfully theirs."

"They'll have to go through my cold, rotting corpse." Riku muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, the eye hovering over the city turned its attention directly to Riku, sending a red beam of light over him. Dark Rai didn't have to follow the light to find where the boy was. "That can be arranged, my son." He growled with a sinister laugh.

"You, are not my father!" Riku shouted as he excited the shadows.

"Oh, really?"

Suddenly flames burst from the ground at Dark Rai's side and a woman appeared within them. She too looked human with the exception of red eyes, bat wings, a barbed tail sticking out from under her skirt, and the Destroyer's insignia on her forehead. "But is his not the seed which allowed me to spawn you and your sister?" questioned Dark Kim.

"And you're not my mother." Riku growled.

"Such an unruly child." Dark Kim said as she wrapped one arm around Dark Rai's waist, placing the hand of her other arm on his chest. "What do you think a fitting punishment would be, dear?"

Dark Rai grinned. "An eternity as a statue." He growled.

Dark Kim licked her lips with a forked, lizard like tongue rather than a normal one. "A delectable idea." She agreed.

The two demons started to approach the boy slowly, their red eyes glowing brighter and brighter as they came closer. There was no escape now. Riku would have to fight… unless…

Riku took the only way out he had. He grabbed the pouch on his belt and reached inside, clutching the handful of magical sand. "Sands of time!" he shouted.

And in a flash of light, he was gone.

"Oh, darn." Dark Kim said. "I was so looking forward to turning him into stone."

"Fret not, darling." Dark Rai reassured her. "There are still twelve more to find. And if all else fails we can use the sands to track him through time."

Dark Kim nodded and grinned sinisterly. "Our master's will shall be done."

~THE PRESENT~

The sunlight radiated over the mountain, warming the forest and roads leading up to the temple grounds. The sounds of birds, animals, and insects filled the mountain trail. It was a calm and peaceful moment. A giant panda sat in a tree on the side of the road, contently munching on some bamboo. Nothing could've ruined this picture… until two blurs came racing down the road at near sonic speed, jumping from tree to tree with enough force to knock the panda from its perch. When it hit the ground, it sat up and glanced around before going back to eating its bamboo as if nothing has happened.

"Get back here, Rai!" Kimiko shouted as she chased after her boyfriend.

"You'll have to catch me, Kim!" Rai called back to her.

The Japanese girl chased the Brazilian boy down the mountain trial, eventually branching off into the forest. Here the speed of the chase was less as they had to maneuver through the densely packed trees and bamboo. At one point Rai got creative and started swinging from vines. Kim tried not to laugh as she pursued him. Eventually Rai decided to make things interesting and grabbed onto a high branch, swinging upward and launching himself into the air, using the power of his Dragon Element to take flight. Kim growled and began focusing her Fire Element into the soles of her feet. Flames burst from her shoes and she took off like a rocket, following Rai into the air. They flew back to the trail at super sonic speeds, getting low to the ground as Kim slowly got closer to her target. Eventually Kim was able to grab onto the hem of Rai's shirt, causing Rai to lose his concentration. They hit the ground and rolled on top of each other for almost a mile until they finally stopped within the temple walls, Kim pinning Rai to the ground. "All right. I win." She growled with a smirk. "Now hand over my PDA or I'll have to punish you."

"Oh please, punish me." Rai grinned back. Kim rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss him. They kissed lying on the ground for over five minutes, much longer than the time it took for Kim to reach into Rai's pocket and retrieve her stolen PDA.

"Excuse me. Sacred ground here."

Kim and Rai broke apart, looking up to find Omi and Saya glaring down at them. "I know you two are addicted to each other, but other people are here and I, for one, would prefer not to lose my lunch."

"What my dwarf of a little brother means to say is… no, I actually can't put it into better words." Saya said. "Keep that to yourselves."

"Oh please." Kim said as she and Rai got to their feet. "You two will be all over Clay and Mimi when they show up."

"The difference being that we haven't seen Clay and Mimi for months." Omi explained. "You two practically live together."

"So I've pretty much moved into my dad's condo in Rio, big deal." Kim said.

"And I just happen to sleep there every day that her dad is on business in Tokyo." Rai added. "… Which just so happens to be three weeks out of every month, I might add." He high-fived Omi.

"Yes, yes, your sex lives are no secret." Dojo said as he joined the conversation, hopping up onto Saya's shoulder. "You could at least not boast about it in front of people who aren't getting any."

"Speak for yourself." Saya said to the dragon, her thoughts drifting off to the last time she'd seen Clay.

"Okay, this is getting awkward." Omi said. Everyone agreed.

They wandered around the temple grounds and talked for a while. It had been a year since they and the rest of their friends had defeated Pride and the Seven Deadly Sins, and so far everything was still at peace. Wuya, Chase, and Hannibal had yet to show their faces since then. The temple was now under reconstruction, Omi and Saya using money that Master Fung had left them in his will (which somehow survived the temples destruction) to hire a construction crew. The main building was now done, and everything else was well under way. It would only be a few more months before everything looked brand new again.

"So…" Kim said to Rai as they walked behind Omi and Saya. "Got a good explanation for why you stole my PDA?"

Rai shrugged. "I was bored. Thought it would be fun."

Kim glared at him with her hands on her hips, giving Rai that feeling in the pit of his stomach which meant he was in trouble. But then Kim smiled and laughed. "Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it?" they went to hug each other, but Kim backed off when she heard footsteps coming towards them.

"Tackle!"

The next thing he knew, Rai was lying on his stomach with two hundred and forty pounds of Texan on top of him. "Rai, buddy! It's been way too long!"

"Crushing… can't breath!" Rai choked.

Clay laughed and got up, walking over to Saya and wrapping his arm around her shoulders just as Mimi walked up to the group. She and Omi greeted each other with a kiss at the same time that Clay and Saya did. "So, where's my spontaneous and humorous greeting?" Saya asked the cowboy at her side.

"Don't worry, baby. I gotcha covered." Clay said, snapping his fingers. "Mimi?" Mimi nodded and pulled the Orb of Tornami out from behind her back, tossing it to Clay. "Thanks." He said, holding the orb over the blond girls head. "Orb of Tornami!" Water suddenly poured from the sphere, soaking Saya from head to toe.

"Clay!"

Saya stole the orb from Clay and blasted him with it. Clay proudly took the first blast full force, knowing he deserved it, but ran when Saya tried soaking him again. Saya proceeded to chase after him and the others laughed as they watched. When Saya managed to trap Clay in a corner, Mimi decided to divert everyone's attention away from them.

"So how's everyone doing?" she asked.

"Good." Omi answered. "Did you and Clay arrive together?"

"Yeah. Our planes arrived at the same time and we took the same bus to the village. Cooked up Clay's little scheme on the hike up here… Something flew passed us in the trees… going really fast… there was yelling…"

"Told you it was them." Rai said to Kim.

"That explains a lot." Mimi chuckled.

Clay and Saya rejoined them a few minutes later, both soaking wet. Mimi, having foreseen this, handed them a couple towels. The six of them continued standing around and talking for a few minutes until they noticed the two girls missing from their party walking onto the temple grounds. Julia and Elena waved as they walked towards their friends, their fingers laced together. "What's going on, guys?" Elena asked. "And why are Clay and Saya's clothes soaking wet?" The two blonds were about to explain, but Elena cut them off. "On second thought, I don't want to know."

"Okay, now that everyone is here…" Omi said. "… Let the festivities commence!"

"Not everyone's here." Saya corrected him.

"What?"

"You're forgetting about Jack and Nina." Mimi explained.

"But they're evil."

"Formerly evil." Mimi said. "Me and Nina have been exchanging emails for the past year and she say's that Jack's really turned over a new leaf since she moved in with him. Say's he wants to get a contract with the military for the design for his robots and that he's trying to patents his robotic limb technology."

"Doesn't sound like the Jack Spicer I remember." Rai joked. "What happened to the incompetent buffoon we all used to know and loath?"

"He got a girlfriend, lost two limbs, and came to terms with old ghosts."

Rai jumped at the sound of Jack's voice behind him, having not noticed him there. "Dude, do not sneak up on me like that." He growled.

Jack just laughed and reached into the pocket of his trench coat, pulling out what looked like a cell phone. "Teleportation. It's gonna be the wave of the future… unfortunately, you can't go more than five feet without screwing up your molecular structure as of yet."

"Cool!" everyone said in unison.

"Showing off your latest toy, Jack?" Nina asked as she walked up to the group.

"You know it."

"Now that everyone's here…" Dojo said as he jumped on top of Clay's hat. "… I say we do what we came here to do and then we GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

Everyone agreed and they headed to the only part of the temple that wasn't (or wasn't going to be) exactly like it used to be: a section of the courtyard that they'd fenced off where they placed the gravestones of their fallen friends. This is where Jet, Jess, Chief, Charity, Master Fung, Dashi, Raven and Rush had all been laid to rest. They stood silently among the graves, not needing words to honor the memories of their fallen friends.

They hadn't been there long before Omi noticed something in the trees behind the graves. "Look." He said, pointing in that direction. Everyone else looked away from the graves to find Chase Young, Hannibal Bean, and Wuya silently staring at the graves, just as they had been. When Chased saw that they had been noticed, he and Hannibal disappeared into the shadows, but Wuya remained behind. She stepped over the fence and walked over to Dashi's grave, kneeling down next to it. She ran her hand over the top of the grave stone as a single tear rolled down her cheek… and then she disappeared in a burst of green flames.

"Guess we're not the only ones with some regrets." Jack said. Nina only nodded.

They spent a few more minutes silently standing amongst the graves before Clay's stomach growled, telling all of them it was time to eat. They went to go light the grill and get their party started, but just as they turned their backs there was a bright flash of light behind them, followed by a pulse of energy that knocked most of them off their feet. The waited until the light had faded to stand up and look back. There, in the trees where Chase, Hannibal, and Wuya had been, stood a boy around their age. His dark brown hair was long and shaggy and his skin was light brown. He wore clothes similar to their Xiaolin robes, except black and with the sleeves ripped off.

It took Kimiko a minute to recognize him. "Riku!"

(a/n) okay, so Ive covered all the essentials. post apocalyptic future, check. time travel, check. an ominous and as of yet faceless and nameless main antagonist, check. now a few things before I go. first, just to get back to this stories roots, Im going to try to make Xiaolin Showdowns more prominant in this story that in Seven Sins or Begun By Blood. second, this is technically going to be two stories in one, taking place in the future and the present. originally it was just going to take place in the future so it would focus on Riku, Bonny, and the other children of the original monks, but then I decided to give the cannon characters (and my OCs) more screen time. and finally, I will be posting the first chapter of this (not counting the prologue, consider this a christmas (or whatever holiday you might celebrate this time of year) preasent) on January 11, 2010. exactly one year after I finished Begun By Blood.

And so, with nothing else to say, in the words of the great Peter Griffin, "Merry Christmas to all and to all shut the hell up." lol.