Had a bit of a block, but I've managed to work through it. I've also posted a silhouette preview of what's to come for arc 5. I know it's early, but you know me, I love silhouette previews. It's got previews of the Strikers (all of whom will be getting new or slightly updated designs) and previews of all of our new characters from the 5 new half breeds to our villainous group, the Fox Trio. Anyway, take a peek and voice any theories or speculations. I love hearing those. Full versions won't be coming until the end of arc 4 ;)

"So, just clear one thing up for me," Mavis began.

"What's that?" Renita asked.

"They're called Keys, but they look a lot more like daggers if you ask me. So why not just call them Daggers?"

"Because they're not daggers. They're keys and they function as keys!" Renita argued.

"Yeah, but it's still a sharp enough key to stab someone with. I mean, look at this thing!" Mavis cried, gesturing to the large Mountain Key. "I bet I could slice through someone's arm!"

"Answering the question: Why can't Mavis hold the Mountain Key," Tim muttered.

"I was being hypothetical! I wasn't really going to do it…"

"Perhaps from the point of view of a Demon Sorcerer, they're keys. They're pretty big anyway so something as small as this to them would be about key sized," Mala suggested.

"Maybe it's a key all the time, and when you stick it in people, it unlocks their death?" Mavis suggested.

"What?" Renita cried, confused.

"Just ignore her," Mala whispered, "She got super into this online web series and has been quoting lines from it nonstop. What was it called? Blue vs. Red or something?"

"Red vs. Blue," Mavis corrected.

"...Does that make a difference?" Mala asked.

"Yes, yes it does."

"If you two are done, I'd like to get back on track. Where's your boyfriend on finding those Keys?" Renita asked.

"Well, he's been meditating over there for the past fifteen minutes. If he felt anything, he would have said so," Mala noted, pointing over to Drago as he sat cross-legged on the floor while Liam, Tim and Remy stood in front of and stared at him.

"You think he can hear us?" Remy asked.

Drago, with his eyes still closed, furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance and cried out in annoyance, "Yes, I can hear you! I'm meditating, not in a trance! Now do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate here!"

"Ok, ok, we're going!" Tim cried, quickly pushing Remy and Liam towards the other side of the room with the girls.

"And I can't do it when you're watching me!" Drago shouted.

"Ok, ok we're not watching, all right?" Liam asked, turning away with the others to talk with the girls.

"Typical boys, they just can't do it when a girl's watching," Mavis remarked.

"That's only with bathroom stuff, isn't it?" Mala asked.

"I think you'll find it applies to many other things."

"Can we please pick a new discussion topic?" Tim begged.

"I second that. Why is it taking so long for him to find one of the Keys? He already has a familial connection to them so it should be easy for him to pick up on their magical signature," Renita stated, crossing her arm matter-of-factly.

"Ren? You remember what Uncle Ray said? That you have to work on your empathy?" Remy chimed in, causing Ren to simply roll her eyes.

"Uncle Ray?" Liam asked.

"My uncle, her dad," Remy clarified.

"Just give Drago some time. It was hard enough to convince him to do this in the first place. I know the last thing he ever wanted was to face his family again let alone be reminded of them, so we should be very appreciative that he's agreed to do this," Mala said gently.

"Well, he'd better hurry. It's not like we have time to spare," Ren remarked.

"We have that time to spare now. So, Ren, what do you do for fun?" Mavis asked.

"Fun?" she asked back.

"Oh my god, you're one of 'those'," Mavis gasped.

"One of what?" Ren asked, growing more confused.

"Double omg! I can already foresee how this is going to go down. You're the typical, tough girl, I-don't-need-any-friends-and-don't-like-to-have-any-fun-ever," Mavis explained as she put her arm around Ren's shoulders, "but, in time, you'll find that you actually really like us and consider us to be your friends, even if you never say it out loud. I guarantee that by the end of this, you're going to open up to us and you're gonna be all, 'Wow, these guys are super cool, especially that Mavis girl, and I wanna be her friend'."

"Do not presume to know me," Ren said, gently pushing Mavis off her.

"Don't mind her, Ren. Mavis is just like that. She's not always 'here', if you know what I mean," Remy said, pointing to his head.

All of a sudden, they heard Drago inhale sharply and quickly turned their attention to him. "Drago?" Liam called. "You ok, man?"

When he didn't respond, they quickly moved over to him, only to see that his eyes were wide open. He looked as if he was staring directly forward, but his eyes appeared unfocused. Liam reached out to nudge him on the shoulder, but Mala quickly stopped him. "No, don't! He's in a trance!" she quickly explained. "The same thing happened whenever he sensed one of the Immortal Objects. Just give him a few seconds and he should have a vision of where the Key is. He'll come out of it on his own."

Meanwhile, deep in Drago's mind, he saw a vision of a curved, sickle-like dagger with a trigram of two broken lines with a single, solid line in the middle between them. Next, he saw quick flashes of stone warriors dressed in ancient Chinese armor and then a whole mass of the stone figures lined up in rows.

"Oh, you're on this channel to, hm?"

"Wha? Who's there?" Drago cried out within his trance.

"Aw, did you forget me already? I'm hurt, little brother," the voice feigned distress as Dragen suddenly appeared before him. "And to think our old man didn't think you had it in you to be able to do this. Guess he underestimated you."

"Wouldn't be the first time! He's done that a lot!" Drago growled, preparing to fight.

"Calm down, Squirt. There's no reason to fight here and even if we wanted to, we couldn't use our powers."

"Then why are you here?" Drago shouted.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to find out where the Moon Key is. And judging from what we just saw, the Key has revealed it's location. You do know what that place was, don't you?" Dragen asked, but Drago remained silent, unwilling to admit that he was not familiar with the place. "That, little brother, was the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. The Terracotta army?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Maybe I'm looking forward to fighting you again, this time without meddlesome Ryder slayers to interfere! Or, maybe I'm just itching to see that pretty girlfriend of yours again. How did you manage to bag such a rarity like her? There's certainly no demons as elegant and beautiful as a crystal demon," Dragen said with a wide smirk.

"You leave her alone! Stay away from her!" Drago shouted, jumping up to punch his brother, only for Dragen instantly disappear and reappear behind him. "Huh?"

"I told you, Squirt. There's no point in fighting here. This isn't the physical plain. But don't worry, you'll get your chance soon enough. That is, if you can get to Xi'an in time. You may have your speed, but you don't know how to fly. And what good is a dragon that can't fly?" Dragen's last sentence repeated in Drago's mind as he was suddenly pulled from his trance and found himself back in the living room of his apartment, with his friends surrounding him with worried looks.

"What did you see?" Liam asked.

Drago took a few moments to catch his breath and calm himself before answering, "The Terracotta army… in Xi'an."

"Drago, are you sure you're ok?" Mala asked, clearly sensing something wrong.

"I'm fine. It was nothing, really," he assured her as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"The Terracotta army in Xi'an. That's definitely the First Qin Emperor's Mausoleum. But it'll take us hours to get there!" Ren cried.

"Not quite," Liam grinned. "We just happen to know someone who can get us there literally in seconds!"

"How?" Ren asked.

"Come on," Liam said, gesturing Ren to follow them as they made their way outside and down to the restaurant below. When they entered, Ren looked around, scanning the interior, trying to catch a glimpse of what it was that Liam was going to show her before he could identify it to her. But so far, everything looked rather ordinary: a normal restaurant filled with normal customers and workers. "Arran!" Liam called out, waving to a tall young man with long blonde hair in a low braid standing behind the counter. He didn't say anything in response, but waved and pointed to the door at the back of the restaurant. Ren followed as they all made their way through the restaurant and entered the small office in the back. They waited for a few minutes and just as Ren was about to voice her impatience, the door opened and the same blonde man from earlier entered.

"Phew, sorry about that. Big morning rush," Arran replied, shutting the door behind him so they could have some privacy. "What's up? Oh, who's this?" he asked, noticing Ren.

"Arran, this is my cousin, Renita Ryder. Ren, this is a friend of ours, Arran Kuang," Remy introduced.

"Pleased to meet you!" Arran held out his hand with a smile.

"Call me Ren," she replied, shaking his hand, before narrowing her eyes and examining him. "You're a light demon," she concluded.

"Uh, h-how did you know?" Arran asked.

"It's ok Arran, she knows everything," Tim assured him.

"I have a sixth sense for these kind of things. Your blonde hair would stand out for miles and besides, the red eyes are a dead giveaway."

"They are?" Tim asked.

"All demons have red eyes. Even if they take on a human disguise to fool those around them, the only thing they cannot change is their eye color. The eyes will always be red, albeit a bit darker in a human form. If someone's got red eyes, they've got some demon in them," Ren explained.

"Hey, she's right! All four of you have red eyes!" Mavis exclaimed after quickly examining Liam, Drago, Mala and Arran's eyes.

"So to what brings you guys down here? It's not shadow demons is it?" he asked in a mix of seriousness and sarcasm.

"No, no shadow demons. But there is another crisis," Liam assured him.

"Long story short, Shen Du's back and is looking to find these," Ren explained, holding out the Mountain Key. "We cannot allow him to find the rest."

"We need a shortcut to the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum in Xi'an," Liam continued.

"I'd be happy to help my cousin out, but I'm afraid I can't come with you," Arran said.

"What? Why not?" Mala asked.

"After everything that happened this summer with the Shadow Legion, I'd like to just take it easy and manage my restaurant. And while I can open a portal for you guys now, unless I'm with you, I can't know when to open another for the return trip."

"Well, what now?" Ren asked.

"We could always take my dragon," Mala suggested.

"What? Him?" Ren asked confused, pointing to Drago.

"No, my crystal dragon. It flew us all the way to the North Pole earlier this year," she explained.

"But it's not as fast or inconspicuous as instant portals. I have an alternative idea," Arran said, removing the golden star shaped amulet from around his neck. He held it out in one hand while placing his other hand over it. His hand began glowing brightly for a few seconds and once it stopped, Arran pulled his hand away and handed the amulet to Liam.

"What did you do to it?" Liam asked, examining it and trying to see if something had changed about the necklace.

"I may not be able to be out there fighting with you guys, but I can still help. Like I said, unless I go with you, I can't know when you're ready to make a return trip, unless you're willing to pay the outrageous long distance charges. So, I've infused some of my Light Demon Chi into my necklace. It's not enough to actually let you use my powers, but it is enough to allow you to open up a light portal without me. And whenever you're ready, you can open another for a return trip yourself."

"So, how exactly does it work?" Remy asked.

"Any of you can use it. All you have to do is concentrate hard on where it is you want to go and the portal will open and take you there. And before you ask, it has to be a place. So you can't go, 'take me to where so and so is'. It will only open one, too. That's the only drawback. Oh, and avoid overusing it. Since the Chi in there is no longer part of me, the power isn't connected to my own energy, so it'll need to recharge on its own."

"Thanks, Arran. We really appreciate the help," Liam thanked his cousin.

"No problem. Anything for family," he smiled. "It should help you out until you learn how to do it yourself, Liam."

"Wh-what?"

"I mean that this should help with the long distance traveling until you learn how to open shadow portals yourself."

"Shadow portals? What are you talking about?" Liam asked, growing more confused.

"You… don't know?" Arran asked. Liam shook his head. "Ok, how do I explain this? Light and dark have a rather… synonymous relationship. With every aspect embodied by one of them, the other embodies all of its opposites. That sorta carries over into our abilities. You see, any ability a Light Demon like myself has, a Shadow Demon has the same, only it's the dark version of it. How do you think your father was able to get his Commanders and entire Legion here?"

"I… I didn't know we-I could do that. I mean, I learned all about my sound powers from my mother, but well, dad was never really the talking type."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own eventually, Liam. You're a smart kid."

"Thanks," Liam smiled. He held up the amulet, preparing to use it's power until Arran stopped him.

"Uh, maybe hold off on using that until you get somewhere completely private. A whole restaurant full of people just saw seven teenagers walk into my office. Imagine how suspicious it would be if I was the only one who came out."

"Good point," said Tim. They quickly made their way back to the apartment and once they shut the door and closed all the blinds, Liam took out Arran's amulet and held it out. "Remember, Arran said to concentrate on where we want to go."

"I know," Liam said, nodding in assurance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before uttering "Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Xi'an." As Liam uttered the last word in his sentence, a stream of light shot out from the amulet and a large golden portal of light opened in front of him.

"I don't think you actually had to say it, just think it," Mala thought out loud while everyone just shrugged their shoulders.

Before they moved towards the portal, Ren dashed ahead of all of them and disappeared into the light portal. "Ren, wait!" Remy cried.

"Does she always do that?" Tim asked.

"Yes," Remy sighed.

"Man, she really is worse than you," Mavis remarked.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," Remy muttered as they all jumped through the portal after her. When they came out on the other side, they found themselves in the middle of a large, open courtyard with stone benches, tour signs with maps, expertly trimmed trees and a large building in the distance ahead of them.

"Good thing it's the middle of the night. Now we don't have to worry about witnesses," Tim pointed out.

"Well, except for security guards… like that one over there," Mavis pointed.

"Where?" they all cried, turning to face the direction she was pointing at, only to see a security guard on the ground, slumped against a tree.

Liam quickly listened for a heartbeat and sighed in relief, "He's alive, just unconscious."

"You think my brother's already here?" Drago asked.

"No, that's most likely Ren's work. Fast and efficient, that's how she works," Remy remarked.

"And apparently disappearing in a second and abandoning her teammates is also how she works," Mavis added.

An Gou stepped forward, still in her German Shepard guise and began sniffing the ground. Once she picked up Ren's scent, her head shot up and she barked before taking off into a run to one of the buildings in the distance. "An's got something!" Liam called. They followed after An and just as the reached the building she was running to, a large fireball burst through one of the windows and struck a large brass qilin statue that sat in front of the entrance.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that they're in there," Mavis noted. They quickly barged through the locked door and into the building where they saw Ren with her bow drawn, pointing the arrow directly in front of her to the balcony on the second level.

"Aw, Red, if you wanted me all to yourself, all you had to do was say so," Dragen taunted playfully with a smirk.

"Where's the key?" Ren shouted, ignoring Dragen's flirtatious taunt.

"Right down to business, hm? I'd tell you if I'd found it already, but as you can see," he said, holding up both his hands to show he had nothing in them, "I have yet to find it. Oh, but look at that, my little brother and his friends are here! How did you manage to get here so quickly?" he asked playfully.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Drago shouted, dashing forward and jumping up to the second floor.

Dragen simply rolled his eyes and jumped over the second floor railing and kicked Drago in the chest, sending him crashing onto the floor roughly while he expertly landed on his feet. Ren quickly fired her arrow at him, but he easily caught it in his hand. Just as he began to snicker, the tip of the arrow, which wasn't a metal point like normal but instead a black cylinder, suddenly beeped and glowed, releasing a thick gas. Dragen dropped the arrow and coughed, instinctively stepping back and lighting his hands and mouth aflame. Unfortunately, the second he did that, a small explosion threw him backwards right through the glass display case containing several Terracotta soldiers, two horses and a carriage.

"So, you wanna play like that, huh? Fine," he muttered, quickly thrusting his hands onto one of the Terracotta soldiers and horses. His hands glowed for a second before a wave of energy swept over the stone figures in the display case. All of a sudden, the two Terracotta horses stood on their hind legs and whinnied while the soldiers took a fighting stance with their weapons at the ready. Dragen cackled in delight at the sight of their shocked faces. "Surprised? You should be! I am a true son of Shen Du, after all. I'll allow you to experience first hand, the power of motion to the motionless! Attack!" Dragen ordered and the soldiers charged towards them while Dragen rode out on the carriage. He went straight for the door, forcing everyone to jump out of the way as he burst through the door frame.

Liam, An, Mala and Drago quickly transformed into their demon forms as they and Remy engaged the soldiers that had come to life. "Any ideas on how we stop them?" Mala asked, blocking one of the soldier's weapons with her claws forearms.

"Just smash them up and they won't move around anymore!" Mavis called as Linos shielded her and Tim with his large wings.

"No! Don't smash them! These are important artifacts from ancient history!" Tim argued.

"Yeah, important artifacts that are attacking us!" Mavis shouted back.

"That doesn't excuse vandalism! I will not have our group be responsible for any more property damage than we already are!"

"Well, if we can't smash them, we'll just have to do the next best thing," Mala said, pushing the soldier that was over her away with a light kick and stomping her foot onto the floor. Crystals spread from her foot across the floor and snaked towards each of the Terracotta soldiers before encasing them entirely in crystal. "There, that should do it," Mala said proudly, admiring her handiwork.

"Good, now let's catch up to Dragen, we can't let him get the key," Linos said.

"Wait," Tim stopped everyone, "Where's Ren?" At his question, everyone scanned the room for the bright orange-haired slayer, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, not again," Remy muttered.

"She's certainly not a team player," Mala noted.

"I swear, she's not usually like this!" Remy cried as they ran out of the building to pursue Dragen and Renita.

Linos' ears twitched as he picked up the sound of clashing metal in the distance. "Over there," he cried. The followed Linos in the direction of the main building, where they saw Ren and Dragen fighting outside the main doors as an identical pair of brass qilins decorated the top of the stairs. Ren lunged with her sword while Dragen easily blocked with his saber. He swiftly spun around, striking Ren across her stomach with his thick tail. The force of the blow threw her back, but she easily used the momentum to back flip back into a combat ready stance.

"You certainly are relentless, Red," Dragen glared before whispering, "I like that. You'd make an excellent demon." Ren said nothing and simply narrowed her eyes in a glare as she charged once more. Instead, Dragen dodged her assault by jumping back onto one of the brass qilins. "I see you took care of the stone soldiers. You took longer than I expected, but I have a feeling these will be more of a challenge for you!" He placed his hand on the head of the brass qilin and jumped across to the other and did the same. In a matter of seconds, the twin qilins came to life, snarling menacingly at the interlopers. "You know, they say these statues were meant to ward off evil spirits and protect homes and buildings. I wonder how they'll take care of you," Dragen laughed confidently when all of a sudden, the qilin he was standing on stood on its hind legs and reared its head, shaking Dragen off. He landed on the ground roughly as one the qilins he animated began advancing onto him. "H-hey! You're supposed to obey me!" he shouted.

"Heh, I guess their duty to the grounds is more important than the loyalty to the one who gave them movement," Remy noted.

"Yeah, but the other one's still coming for us!" Tim cried, pushing himself and Mavis out of the way as the brass qilin ran up to them and smacked Linos aside like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. Linos flew right into a tree, prompting An to attack the qilin. She opened her mouth and let out a stream of black fire, but the attack barely phased the qilin, who repeated its paw-smacking motion onto the much smaller An Gou, who whimpered as her body collided with a tree trunk.

Linos saw this from the tree he landed in and narrowed his eyes angrily. "Leave my dog alone!" He leapt from the tree let out a sonic scream on the brass qilin, but the hulking metal beast seemed to barely notice it while the other qilin heard the scream and turned its attention towards its comrade and away from Dragen, allowing him to slip away.

Ren quickly noticed this and took off after him into the main building that was built around the largest Terracotta digsite. "Ren, wait! We need help!" Remy cried, trying to stop his cousin, but she either didn't hear him or purposely ignored his words to pursue Dragen. "Dammit, Ren," he muttered.

"Incoming!" Drago shouted as the second qilin charged down the stairs towards them. Linos raised his hands, summoning shadow tendrils to wrap around the charging qilin's legs and slow it down, but they did little to slow the behemoth down as the tendrils broke like sewing thread.

"Starshatter!" Remy shouted, calling his demonic sword as it magically manifested in his hand. He took the sword in his hand and took a deep breath before slicing the empty space in front of him horizontally, causing a trail of little stars to appear. One by one, the stars shot out and struck the qilin's face, but the little starbolts only served to cause the qilin to swerve slightly while the beast remained on its trajectory.

Before the beast could reach them, Mala quickly jumped between it and her friends. Crystals grew around her legs and feet and spread across the ground, anchoring her to it as she raised her hands in preparation for the collision. "Wait, Mala, what are you doing?" Drago cried, running up to stop her, but on her mental command, Pearl appeared and held him back. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion as the brass qilin collided with Mala, who, thanks to anchoring herself to the ground, was able to hold the beast back and with her immense strength, she shoved the animated beast back, panting heavily.

"Look out!" Mala turned around sharply just as the first qilin from earlier ran up and knocked her aside with his large head.

"Mala!" Drago rushed over to her in worry.

"I'm fine. Go help Renita. We can handle this," she assured him. He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off and shouted, "Go!" Though he was unwilling to leave her, he nodded his head and did as she asked. He ran up the stairs to the main building his brother and Ren had disappeared into earlier. He stopped once he reached the top to see his friends fighting and trying to find a way to subdue the brass qilins. He caught of glimpse of Mala trying to same tactic she had done on the Terracotta soldiers earlier, but the pair of beasts broke free from their restraints before Mala could completely encase them. Drago turned back and kicked down the main door and saw Ren standing a few feet in front of him. She held her bow in slacked arms with an arrow half-drawn while her eyes were closed.

"Ren? Where's my brother?" he asked, walking up to her while carefully scanning his surroundings in case of a sneak attack. When she didn't speak or even acknowledge his presence, he repeated his question.

"SHHH!" she shushed him harshly.

"What is your problem?" he asked, growing frustrated with her.

"SHHH!" she shushed again, just as harshly as before. "I'm trying to concentr-" Before Ren could even finish her sentence, Dragen suddenly appeared between them and knocked Ren into a display case with a powerful thrust of his tail. Her back collided with the glass casing roughly, causing it to shatter and the force of the throw knocked the display case over as she impacted.

Drago didn't have time to react as Dragen swiftly brought his fist right up, striking Drago in the jaw and sending him flying. "So, Squirt, did'ya like my little show out there? Betcha didn't know I could do that, did'ya? I mean, it's no surprise that I have all of father's powers. I am a full demon, after all," he boasted, walking over to Drago as he pushed himself off the ground and rested on his hands and knees. Dragen quickly brought his foot under and kicked Drago in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs and causing him to roll onto his back, where Dragen then placed his foot on Drago's chest to keep him in place. "But you? You're just a half-breed. All you got was the fire. You're smaller, weaker and pathetic. And that's why you'll always be inferior to me," he whispered, leaning in closely. Drago growled under his breath and breathed fire up to his brother, but the greater dragon held out his hand and effortlessly blocked the orange flames. "Please, did you really think that was going to work on me? No wonder you don't have a Demon Weapon."

"What is a Demon Weapon?" Drago asked, growing annoyed and frustrated.

"It's exactly what it sounds like: the weapon of a demon. But it's a very special kind of weapon and only Sorcerer class demons, like say, you and me, can get one. 'How do I get one?' you may be asking," Dragen continued, "Well it's simple: You have to earn it."

"And how does that work?"

"Well, there's no official method or criteria for how to get your own Demon Weapon. It varies for each individual, just as the weapon they get varies. You see, a Demon Weapon is an extension of our souls, the very manifestation of our spirits and power. In most cases, Demon Sorcerers unlock their weapons after dealing with great emotional strife or building up their power in battle. That's how I earned this," he explained, pulled the green-bladed saber from his back. "Qīng Lóng Yǎn Yuè Dāo, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. When I defeated Jian Dun, the Metal Demon Sorcerer, in battle, this lovely blade appeared before me as proof of my strength and superiority. From that point on, I knew what I wanted: absolute power."

"I've been down that road before, Dragen. It's not as promising as you think," Drago uttered back.

"Easy for you to say when you didn't even make it to the end. You lost to humans and now you're hanging around humans!"

"You underestimate them."

"And you overestimate yourself. You see, I have to thank you for coming in when you did. Red over there was this close to figuring out where I was with that sixth sense of her even with my invisibility. But your distraction allowed me the perfect opportunity to retrieve this from one of the Terracotta carriages," Dragen explained, pulling out the curved, sickle-bladed dagger Drago had seen in his vision.

"The key!" Drago exclaimed. He tried to reach for it, but Dragen pulled the key away from his reach and kept his younger brother on the ground with a firm foot.

"Ah ah ah!" he teased. "Amazing that the humans didn't even find it. They were obviously more concerned with preserving the carriage than searching for hidden compartments. Since I have what I came for, I guess there's no reason for me to stick around. It's a shame I didn't get to spend time with that pretty girlfriend of yours, maybe next time."

Drago glared angrily at his brother and, with a sudden burst of strength, leapt up from the ground and pushed Dragen off him. He charged towards his brother, but Dragen held up the curved key and Drago suddenly felt himself being pulled to the ground. He landed roughly and tried to push himself back up, but it felt like he was being flattened by an invisible force.

"Well, aren't you a spitfire? But I think you could use a time out. Tso Lan's gravity power should keep you there, at least until I've gone out of range. Then those qilin statues of mine should go back to being motionless too. Until next time, Squirt," Dragen winked, levitating out the front entrance and into the night sky. After a minute or so, Drago heard the sounds of fighting outside stop as the heavy force that kept him trapped suddenly released. Everyone else caught up just as Ren regained consciousness.

"Where's Dragen?" Linos asked.

"Gone, with the key," Drago replied.

"Idiot! This is all your fault!" Ren shouted, pointing an accusatory finger to Drago.

"My fault? How is this my fault!" he shouted back at her.

"I almost had him. I was handling things just fine until you came in and broke my concentration!"

"Well maybe if you didn't disappear without a word and actually tell us what you're doing, I might have known not to disrupt you!"

"Guys, guys! Stop it!" Mala cried, coming between the two and separating them from each other with her arms. "We shouldn't be fighting each other!"

Ren and Drago kept their eyes locked at each other with vicious glares until Ren finally spoke, "Fine. Just get us back to the city."

"Ren," Remy uttered, reaching out for his cousin.

"No," she said, smacking his hand away. "I knew I shouldn't have come asking for your help. I should have handled this alone." Ren walked through the light portal back to Los Angeles, slowly followed by everyone else as Remy lagged behind, staring at the scene of her and Drago's battle against Dragen. He needed to talk some sense into her, otherwise, this wouldn't be the first time Dragen gets a key.

"Did you get it?" Shen Du hissed impatiently.

"Relax old man, I got it," Dragen answered, pulling out the Moon Key.

"Excellent. I was almost half-expecting you to fail again since you have yet to bring me the Mountain Key."

"Your confidence in me is inspiring, dad," Dragen remarked sarcastically. He walked up to the large stone door and placed the Moon Key in one of the eight slots with the matching trigram. The mechanism recognized the key and it turned, locking in place within the door.

Shen Du grinned widely as he uttered, "One down, seven to go."

I don't think I've ever written a chapter this long... at least not for a long time. Usually I average about seven pages per chapter (~4000 words) but this one came out to ten pages! It's funny because stuff always ends up taking up more space than I expect it to.

Also, I just couldn't help but slip a RvB reference there. Ever since we concepted the keys/daggers, I just knew we had to have Mavis say the Caboose line "maybe it's a key all the time and when you stick it in people, it unlocks their death." Can you blame me? It's one of my fav lines XD

Next chapter: Remy confronts his cousin over her poor communication and shitty teamwork. But will Ren change her ways in time for the battle over the Water Key... at Loch Ness?