Chapter 3: Dashi's Diary

Master Fung stood quietly in from of a book shelf in the temple library, quietly searching through an ancient looking book. This book was over fifteen hundred years old, with pages made of parchment and the spine bound by brittle leather. This book was considered to be the most precious in the library, it was under constant guard. Only the head of the temple and those he gave permission were allowed to read what was written in those pages, and with good reason.

This was the diary of Grand Master Dashi.

Dashi had written this from the time he'd joined the Xiaolin Order to the time he'd hidden the last of the Shen Gong Wu. Hidden within its pages was every secret and every memory he'd every had. Fung had only looked through this book once before, about fifteen years ago, when he decided it was time to determine the next generation of Xiaolin Dragons. But now Fung searched its passages for a different reason. Something in the air and sent a shiver up his spine, a bad omen indeed. The only time he ever felt a chill like that was when a great evil from years ago had returned, like Chase, Hannibal, or Wuya. This could only mean that the world was, once again, in mortal danger. Fung flipped another page and began to read, finding that this was the page he'd been searching for.

May 17, 539 A.D.

GONE

She's gone. I should've known this would happen, I've seen the look in her eye. Her lust for power forced her to leave with someone calling himself "The Sin of Pride". I doubt that she'll ever return. I just don't get it though, we thought that we could never be together because her parents had already married her off and she'd been thrilled when she told me that her husband was dead. But now, not even half a year later, she's gone. She said she loved me, buy now I see that the only thing she loves is power.

Master Fung sighed when the paragraph broke off. He'd read this passage the last time he'd read the diary, but took no note of it, thinking that at the time it was unimportant. Sure, it was common knowledge that Dashi had defeated Wuya and saved the world from ten thousand years of darkness. But not many knew that before that, he'd faced an even greater evil, and organization calling themselves The Seven Deadly Sins. No one knew who they were or what their intentions were, only that they were comprised of seven members and were considered by many, at the time, the ultimate evil. Fung flipped a few more pages until he found another entry concerning the sins.

June 29, 539 A.D.

THE SINS

I couldn't believe my eyes at first. She was back (wearing one of the hottest outfits I've ever seen, I might add)! Unfortunately, she's not alone. She's joined the Seven Deadly Sins. I don't know and honestly don't care what position she's taken, I only care that's she's joined them in the first place. I fought them today and lost… badly. And only because I couldn't bring myself to hurt her, but she could've killed me easily. But their leady, Pride, had other plans and the vanished before I had so much as a broken bone. Don't get me wrong though, I'm still in excruciating pain.

Something tells me that I haven't seen that last of them. But I will stop them some how, no matter what the risk. Maybe those new Shen Gong Wu I've been working on will be able to help. I should probably finish those when I get the feeling back in my legs.

The next few days entries were either short or black, but another interesting one came up shortly.

July 5, 539 A.D.

THEY'RE BACK

I battled one of the Sins again today, some Japanese Samurai calling himself Wrath. I won the fight. Being a Samurai, he couldn't accept defeat and wanted to kill himself, I turned away as he drove his sword into his own stomach. O turned back after I heard the body hit the ground, figuring I should give it a proper burial. But something happened. Just as I turned back, a glowing green figure, nothing more than a skeleton thing figure of pure energy, rose up from the Samurai's body and vanished with the wind. I can only guess that that was the chi spirit of the Wrath Sin. The Samurai had been an innocent man, possessed by the spirit of a demon. The Wrath Sin may be gone for now, but it will be back… with a vengeance most likely. But I wonder, if the Samurai had been possessed by a dark chi spirit, could this mean that she is also. Maybe if I can find a way to remove the spirits from the Seven Sins physical bodies I can save the innocent people they've possessed. I'll have to think this over.

Fung carefully closed the old book and replaced it in its spot on the shelf. Say that Dashi was right and the Sin of Wrath, along with the other six, had returned to exact their revenge. If that were the case, then it was up to his nine students to defeat them again. It wasn't that he thought they couldn't do it; they'd done miraculous things in the past (or at least five of them had), and he had no doubt that they could pull another miracle off. But the ominous winds that these so called Sins put into the air gave him the feeling that they were in for more than they'd ever faced before. But then what could it possibly be about this new threat that made him so nervous?

What indeed.

Master Fung whirled around in an attempt to catch who'd spoken, but found no one there. Only shelves upon shelves of books. Fung rubbed his temple and sighed again. "I'm getting to old for this." He muttered before making his way out of the library for a nice long nap.

ICELAND

"Canine Crossbow!"

Three dog shaped darts came shooting out of the crossbows barrel and headed straight for Jack, steadily gaining on him even as he raced away with the Fancy Feet Shen Gong Wu. The showdown was simple enough, successfully find and capture the Lucky Cricket (which had transformed into a real cricket for the showdown) in order to win. Jack, Tubbimura, Katnappe, and Vlad had bet the Serpents Tail, Jetbootsu, Manchurian Musca and Fancy Feet against the Mantis Flip Coin, Wings of Tinabi, and Shard of Lightning which Clay, Saya, and Elena used and the Canine Crossbow which Sloth had stolen from Jack. So far, Tubbimura, Katnappe, Vlad, Clay and Saya had already been knocked out by Sloth, leaving only Jack and Elena (who was faring quite well, seeing as how this was her first Showdown) to far against her.

The darts struck jack in the back with a fiery explosion and Jack stumbled to the ground. Elena watched from behind a boulder. She'd hidden there in order to catch her breath. It was hard enough to catch that dang cricket without the threat of being blown up. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. Luckily for her, Sloth had resumed searching for the cricket, thinking that she'd eliminated all the competition. Elena raised the wings of Tinabi into the air when she spotted the cricket, activated them, and went soaring after it. She almost had it, only inches away from grasping it in her hand. But before she could, she felt a small impact on her side followed by the hellfire explosion that knocked her away.

Sloth chuckled smugly as she slowly made her way over to where Elena had been. She knelt down slowly and gently nudged the cricket into her hand. The cricket made a white flash and the area returned to normal. Sloth stood with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring down at the others, disgusted by their failure. "You four are pathetic." She stated, indicating Jack and his crew. "You three on the other hand," she turned her gaze to Clay, Saya, and Elena, "… have some skill. Perhaps I should send Envy after you. I'm sure he'd get a real kick out of your strengths."

"Envy, Sloth, since when did people start naming themselves after sins?" Saya grumbled as Clay helped her back to her feet.

Sloth only sneered at the other seven before snapping her fingers and disappearing in a puff of smoke with the nine Shen Gong Wu. Afterwards, the monks ran off to find their friends and Jacks group disbanded. Katnappe, Tubimurra, and Vlad wanted no more to do with Jack for the time being, claiming, "You're on your own, bucko. I need a cat nap." "No amount of free sushi is worth this kind of punishment." and "I'll kick the living tar out of you later." For some reason, Jack didn't seem to care. He simply dismissed them with a wave of his hand. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he had something on his mind other than world domination.

Jack snapped back to reality and scratched the back of hi head. "That's it, I'm going home, making me some nachos, and watching Hostel. I need to get my mind back on evil." With that, he activated the Helabot and flew off.

Unknown to anyone else, Pride loomed overhead, atop a tree. He had been the soul witness to the previous showdown and was quite intrigued by what happened after. "Sloth did quite well for her first mission. I suppose a reward is in order, though I would've preferred it if she would've killed them. But that Jack boy…" Pride paused, thinking over the blank expression he'd seen on the evil boys face. "He may come in handy in the future."

OMI, MIMI AND RUSH

Mimi and Rush watched in complete awe as Omi and Wuya battled it out. Mimi was impressed that Omi was even able to move, considering that Rush was completely immobilized by just the sight of Wuya. As for Rush, well, not surprisingly he couldn't take his eyes off of her chest.

Wuya's hand blazed with green fire as she slashed at the trunk of an evergreen, sending it toppling over in Omi's direction. Omi leapt up, launched himself from the top of the falling tree, and dove at Wuya head first. Wuya stood straight up, extending one arm out in front of her to generate a force field. Omi only smirked as he used his water powers to launch himself right over Wuya's force field, ricocheted off of a tree, and slam his foot into the back of Wuya's head. Wuya stumbled forward, but managed to keep her balance. The witch swung around and slashed at Omi with her dagger like nails. Omi took the full force of the blow and fell onto his back, knocking the wind out of him.

Wuya hovered over the short monk, glaring at him in her victory, barely able to wait to finish him off. "You know," she said, "I would love to kill you right here and now… but I have other plans for you and your little friends. So consider this the last time you walk away from a battle with the Sin of Lust." With that, Wuya vanished with the wind, away to put together her evil schemes.

As soon as Wuya was gone, Mimi rushed over to help Omi and Rush snapped back to reality. Mimi knelt down net to Omi, who was still lying on the snow breathing heavily, and helped him sit up. "Go find the others!" she ordered. Rush was still a little dazed from his trance, but managed to run off in search of his other friends. Mimi turned back to the monk in her arms. His breathing was getting softer and steadier, but the hit must've been like slamming into the ground after falling fifteen feet to do something like this. "Omi, are you gunna be ok?"

Omi smiled at her weakly and nodded. "I've been… through worse than this." He groaned. To Mimi's amazement, Omi actually staggered back to his feet and managed to stand up straight. "What I want to know is how Wuya got so powerful so quickly." He said, this time clearly.

"Well," Mimi said as she, too, stood up again, "She did say, and I quote 'This bathing suit comes with an upgrade.' Plus she kept calling herself Lust."

Omi rubbed his chin (or at least what little of a chin he had). "Yes, that was most peculiar…"

I would make a joke about the writer right now," Mimi stated, "But I don't want to break the forth wall and the readers probably want to get on with the story."

"Then I suggest you take your own suggestion." Omi said.

Mimi blushed slightly and turned to where Rush had run off to. Sure enough, the South African boy was running back with Clay, Saya, and Elena right behind him. No sign of Rai, Kim, or Julia however.

RAI, KIM, AND JULIA

Rai grunted in pain as his back slammed against a tree, Wrath's mechanical claw pinning him against the trunk. The cyborg grinned at him darkly as he pointed his gun arm towards Kimiko and Julia, who were both lying unconscious in the snow behind him. "Now I'm gunna make you choose." Wrath growled. "Who's gunna die first? Little miss surfer girl…" he moved his arm to point the gun barrels towards Julia. "Or maybe the Chinese girl." He moved his arm again and took aim at Kimiko.

"She's Japanese, you racist dipstick." Rai grunted.

"Who cares." Wrath barked. "Those Asians all look the same and she's going to die soon anyway, no matter who you choose."

Rai cringed as Wrath pushed the base of his claw against his chest harder. Rai never actually thought he'd be faced with a situation like this, having to choose one of two people close to him to die first. It's a hard decision, even when they're both going to die along with himself anyway. It was a choice Rai never wanted to make… and one he wasn't going to make any time soon. But the more he struggled against Wrath's grip, the tighter his grip became.

Wrath rotated his gun once and it made a clicking sound. "You got 'til the count of three to give me an answer or I'll just start shooting randomly." He said. "One…"

Rai looked over Wraths shoulder to get one last look at the girl he loved and one of his closest friends before they left this realm forever. But to his amazement, they were gone. And standing off in the background were five figures, two of which were holding two more unconscious figures in their arms. Rai smirked just as Wrath muttered "Two…"

"THREE!"

Rai summoned every ounce of wind power he had in him to push himself out of Wraths grip just before a bolt of lightning came crashing down from the heavens, striking Wrath like a bulky lightning rod. Wrath collapsed onto the ground to reveal Saya standing right behind him with one arm raised into the air and a smug smirk on her face.

"You guys have great timing, you know that?" Rai asked.

"You know, I'd have thought that someone whose girlfriend is unconscious wouldn't have time to joke around." Saya said.

"I wasn't joking." Rai pleaded. "You guys really do have great timing. Those two were about to get killed!"

"Hey, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but two of us are unconscious and we've all gotten at least minor injuries, except for Rush over here." Elena broke in. "I think it's about time we head back to the temple and tell Master Fung about all this."

"Agreed."

THE TEMPLE

Dojo landed just outside the temple and his nine passengers jumped off of his back. By now, Kim and Jewel had woken up, though both of them had splitting headaches. Because of this, Rai had to help Kim walk into the temple, while Elena offered to help Julia. Inside, Master Fung was already waiting for them, meditating silently in the meditation hall while his students shuffled in.

"Master Fung," Omi announced, "We have most disturbing news!"

"You have each fought and lost against three strangers naming themselves after one of the seven deadly sins." Master Fung said without so much as blinking.

"I have got to learn how you do that." Rai said.

"This is no laughing matter, Raimundo!" Master Fung snapped. "These sins could quite possibly be the most dangerous enemies you've ever faced. It wasn't exactly a picnic the last time they showed up."

"Last time?" Elena asked.

Master Fung only nodded as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small leather book. With a flick of his wrist, the book flew out of his hand straight to Omi who caught the book after a few seconds of fumbling around in the air. "Do any of you know what this book is?" Master Fung asked. Everyone just shook their heads. "This is the diary of Grand Master Dashi. Within its passages lies every aspect of his life from when he entered the Xiaolin Order to when he hid the last of the Shen Gong Wu. Every secret, every feeling, every person, absolutely everything."

"But what does this have to do with the Seven Sins?" Omi asked as he struggled to undo the diaries latch.

"I will explain," Master Fun said, "But it will take some time for you to fully understand. Some of this you may not believe or accept, but I can guaranty that all of this is crucial to the past of the Seven Sins."

Master Fung went on to explain everything about the Sins. Their origins, their plans, their connection to Dashi, it all fell together piece by piece. As Master Fung said, some parts were completely unbelievable and they couldn't accept. But all of this was the blood chilling truth. Dashi had battled and defeated the Sins fifteen hundred years ago, and now the task had fallen onto their shoulders.

LOCATION UNKNOWN

The room was dark, lit dimly only by a glowing orb on a pedestal in the center. It was completely circular, spanning about ten yards in diameter. Around the edge of the room sat seven thrones and on six of these thrones sat their owners.

The first was Envy: the newest recruit. Envy was a scrawny boy of about fourteen, maybe fifteen years. His attire consisted of a pair of sneakers, a very baggy pair of blue-jeans, held up only by a loose belt up at his waist, and a plain black T-shirt with the seven pointed star on it. His shaggy brown hair covered most of his face, leaving only from his nose down in sight and a thin slit in between two locks of hair for one of his eyes. Envy had been confronted by Pride not long ago and offered his current position. Pride had seen the envy of others in the boys' eyes and knew right away that he was perfect.

In the next chair sat Sloth: the beautiful young redhead who had won the Lucky Cricket in the showdown. Sloth had the seven pointed star on the stomach area of her dress. Unlike Envy, Sloth had been tricked into her position. She'd been worked hard for her entire life while her caretakers did nothing. All she'd wanted was a break, and Pride came to her one night and offered her so much more. Selfishly desperate to escape her current lifestyle, she took Prides deal without even asking about any fine print. Long story short, she went from a physical slave to s psychological slave.

Next to Sloth sat Greed: an eight teen year old. Unlike the Envy, he was dressed to match his title: a pair of black leather dress shoes; dark blue dress pants with a brown leather belt; and a plain white button up shirt with a red tie covered by a dark blue blazer (a/n: totally screams rich snob, right?). Green had the seven pointed star on the left shoulder of his blazer. When Pride found him, the boy had had nothing. He lived on the streets, picking scraps from trash bins. Pride came to him one rainy day and asked him what he wanted most. Greed said that he just wanted to live the good life, and got his wish. Now, when not on active duty as the Sin of Greed, he lived in a huge mansion with servants tending to his every order, a personal gift from Pride himself.

The Next chair was empty. This is where Wuya, being the Sin of Lust, would normally sit. Wuya had never thought that she would regain her status as a Sin, but fate works in mysterious ways, as they say. The other six Sins were waiting for Wuya to arrive so they could get on with their meeting.

In the fifth chair sat the Sin of Gluttony. Like Wuya, he was chosen for his position because he already had what was required instead of wanting it. Gluttony was a huge man, easily weighing three hundred and fifty pounds. But, despite his flabby exterior, his weight was mostly muscle. He wore an enormous suit of body armor, adding a good hundred or so pounds. On his chest plate was a strange symbol: a golden circle with a silver L lying on top of it. To finish up, he had a red cape attached to the back of his armor. The seven pointed star was just below the symbol on his chest plate. Like Envy, his brown hair was shaggy and covered his eyes

In the second to last chair sat Wrath: The man with the cybernetic arms who brutally attacked and almost killed Raimundo, Kimiko, and Julia. Wrath had the seven pointed star painted onto his arm with the triple barreled gun. Wrath was a former military soldier who lost both of his arms back in the Vietnam War. He returned home with a purple heart, but still felt betrayed by his country and swore he'd get even. He lived the next thirty two years of his live training to fight without his arms. Then Pride came to him one day and offered him the revenge he wanted and new arms. Wrath took the deal without so much as thinking.

And that just leaves the final throne, belonging to the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride. Pride had returned from his slumber to exact his revenge and fulfill the job he'd been sent here to do fifteen hundred years ago. He'd finally gathered seven new Sins and it was time to reveal their plan… that is, if the Sin of Lust showed up any time soon.

Greed slammed his fist on the side of his thrown from his lack of patients. "I am tired of waiting!" he shouted. "I say we forget Lust and begin this already!"

"Patients, Greed." Sloth said. "I'm sure Lust will be here any moment."

"Yeah, and if not," Wrath broke in, "I'll have something to say to her."

Gluttany laughed. "Please!" he bellowed, "You wouldn't lay a claw on her. I've seen the way you drool over her."

Wrath jumped out of his throne and pointed his gun at Gluttony. "What was that, you fat piece of…"

"Enough!" Envy shouted. "You're both acting like children."

"Oh, that says a lot coming from the kid who can take anything he wants from anyone!" Wrath snapped.

Envy stood up and pointed his hand at Wrath as it began to glow with a green flame. "That includes your shiny new arms." He said, "And I might take your legs too, just to piss you off even more."

"Now, this wouldn't be fighting over little old me, would it?" Wuya's voice rang through the chamber as she appeared from nothing in her throne. "Now, why don't you two quit your squabbling so we can get on with this. I want to be here just as much as the rest of you."

Wrath and Envy reluctantly took their seats so that the meeting could begin. "Thank you for finally showing up, Lust." Pride said. "Now then, since we have finally filled all seven positions in our organization, it is time to reveal our plans. As Lust knows, we failed fifteen hundred years ago and it is finally time to finish what we started."

"So what is it already?" Greed asked impatiently.

Pride looked down at Greed and the eyes on his helmet began to glow blood red. "We are going to end this miserable world."