Chapter 6: Dual for the Temple
Chase and Omi circled each other slowly atop the temple roof, each waiting for the other to attack. Questions were racing through Omi's head: why was Chase here; what did he want with the temple; why wasn't he going to fight rather than his one of his jungle cat flunkies; and where the heck was this other guy anyway? All these and more would remain unanswered. There was something eerie about Chase as well. There was something weird about him, something different than the thing that sent chills up Omi's spine every time he saw the dragon eyed warrior. Chase seemed, well, happy. Almost like he was enjoying his evil deeds rather than facing them emotionlessly like usual.
Omi was ready to fight; his fighting stance was flawless and his thoughts were focused. "What makes you think I'd accept such a challenge? Why would I risk losing my one and only home?" he asked.
"Two reasons." Chase answered. "One) should you refuse my challenge, you will automatically lose, handing the temple over to me without a fight. This really pursued you enough, I would think. But no, I needed an extra measure. That's why I though of reason two)" Chase snapped his fingers quickly. A tiger suddenly jumped onto the roof. It was holding a person in its jaws by the back of their shirt, and it wasn't just any person. It was Saya. "I'm sure that you wouldn't want your only living family to meet an unfortunate end. You see, I've been thinking of giving my pets a snack."
Omi was enraged at the sight of his sister hanging loosely from the tiger's jaws. There was no way that he was going to let her become cat food! "You… you… what's that word that Raimundo is always calling you again? Oh yes. You bastard! You threaten Saya's life just so that I will fight!? You will regret the day you even met me!"
Chases smirk grew slightly. Soon he began to chuckle, and that quickly turned into a full blown evil laugh. "Very well then, mighty Dragon of the Water! Make me regret it!" He dismissed his fighting stance and stood up straight, stretching out his arms to give Omi a bigger target.
Omi launched himself into the air, soaring towards Chase that it seemed like he was using the fancy feet or something. Chase stood there waiting for the monk to strike, holding his cocky expression all the while. It seemed like Omi was actually going to strike, but someone jumped into his way and blocked him with a long wooden staff at the last second. It was the cloaked man with the Hitsuji hammer. But if this man had used the hammer on Rai and had such great results the least time, why was he blocking Omi with the Monkey Staff.
Both the cloaked man and Omi were had their hands wrapped tightly around the Monkey Staff. They both knew what was coming as the Shen Gong Wu began to glow. "Well, this will be even better than I expected. A Xiaolin Showdown wagering a Shen Gong Wu each and something for personal gain or loss." Chase said in an intrigued tone, "My minion wagers his Hitsuji Hammer against…" he paused, waiting for Omi to name a Shen Gong Wu.
"I… don't have anything to wager with me right now." Omi admitted.
"Well, we can't have a Xiaolin Showdown with only one Wu." Chase chuckled. "I guess I'll have to lone you one for the time." Chase reached behind his back and tossed something to Omi. It was a gauntlet made of sapphire with. It was hallow from end to end with no hand like part on ether side, thus giving the user free use of their hand and the powers of the Wu. It was long enough to reach from a Omi's wrist to his forearm. Omi caught the gauntlet in his left hand and slid it over his right, clamping it down to make sure it wouldn't fall off of his arm. "It's called the Sapphire Gauntlet. You can find out what it does for yourself."
"Very well." Omi said, still glaring at his opponent. "What is your challenge?"
"The game is a challenge of balance. The first one to fall off of the roof loses."
"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!"
The Monkey Staff emitted a blinding glow as the arena was set of the Showdown. The roof of the temple shot into the sky with Omi, Chase, and the cloaked man still on it. The temple below them shattered into countless pieces and rose into the air after them bits and pieces hanging in midair around the roof. One mass of broken wood and tables hovered not far off with Master Fung, Kimiko, and Clay standing on it and Raimundo lying down next to Dojo (who was still holding a hand of cards); all five seemed extremely confused until they saw Omi and the cloaked man both holding onto the Monkey Staff. But their confusion only returned when they saw Chase standing on the roofs edge with an unconscious Saya lying beside him.
The Monkey Staff vanished as Omi shouted "Gong Yi Tanpai!" and the showdown began. The young monk leapt back, watching his opponent carefully as the cloaked man began to zigzag over the roof, making so many random turns that it was impossible for the spectators, except for Chase and Master Fung, to keep eye contact. Making another sudden turn, he shot directly at Omi. The Hitsuji hammer in hand and ready to shatter the monks skull. Grabbing the gauntlet on his left arm with his right hand, Omi called out its name. "Sapphire Gauntlet!" the gauntlet glowed faintly at a barely visible shield of light appeared in front of Omi, blocking the Hitsuji Hammer with a thundering bang.
One the sidelines, the other young monks were watching in awe. Omi had taken a serious risk in using a Shen Gong Wu that none of them had even seen before. It was lucky for him, as Dojo put it, that the Sapphire Gauntlet was a force-field Shen Gong Wu.
"OK, I sorta get why they're fightin'." Clay said. "But why in the great state of Texas is Chase here? And why is Saya lying next to him?"
"I am not sure, Clay." Answered Master Fung. "But I am sure that Omi will give us the full story when this is over."
"You mean if he survives this showdown." Raimundo broke in. "Omi may have a force-field, but one wrong move and the hammer is gunna be all over him. And that thing is leathel, trust me." There was another bang from the hammer hitting the gauntlets shield.
Omi jumped out of the way as the cloaked man slammed the Hitsuji hammer onto the roof, sending roof shingles flying everywhere. Omi landed silently and reactivated the gauntlet. The shield of lit appeared before him as he charged, ramming the shield into the cloaked mans side and sending him flying towards the roofs edge. He landed on his back, skidding a few feet and stopping inches before falling off the side. He got back to his feet quickly started zigzagging again.
Chase watched his warrior face off against Omi with the utmost delight. The young monk was doing quite well for having never used the Sapphire Gauntlet before. But who could blame him? Omi was obviously determined to rescue his sister and wasn't going to make a single flaw if it was her on the line. And the fact that the only home he'd ever known was on the line as well could only add to that. Chase chuckled. Foolish boy. Doesn't even realize what he's fighting for. He thought.
Omi stood ready as the cloaked man zigzagged his way over the roof. The cloaked man made a sudden turn and shot straight at him with the Hitsuji Hammer clenched tightly in has hand. He swung the hammer at the big headed monk, giving Omi just enough time to shout, "Sapphire Gauntlet, ice!" a shield of ice, at least a foot thick, materialized in from of him only to have it shattered by the oncoming hammer. Omi's plan had worked perfectly. The delay in the cloaked mans attack had given him just enough time to strike. "Tsunami Strike, water!" he jumped into the air, coming eye to eye with the cloaked man. In one swift movement, he clinched his hand into a fist and slammed it right into the his opponents shadow covered face sending him flying over the roof, passed Chase, and falling into the bottomless sky below.
There was another golden flash as the Temple reconstructed itself and everything went back to normal. Master Fung, Clay were now standing the yard, Dojo was sitting on Clay's hat, Raimundo was lying in the grass doing his best to look up at what was happening with Kimiko kneeling over him doing the same. Omi and Chase still stood on the roof, staring each other down like an old western movie. The cloaked man was nowhere to be seen.
Omi glared at Chase with pure rage as he detached the gauntlet from his arm and tossed it aside. The Monkey Staff and Hitsuji Hammer appeared at his feet right after. "I have won your challenge, Chase Young. Now hand over Saya and leave!"
"As you wish Omi. Your sister will be returned to you, as promised and the temple is yours to keep. I expected nothing less from you." Those were Chase's last words before he kicked Saya's unconscious body over the side of the roof, into an ally between two of the buildings, and disappeared without a trace.
LATER
After bringing Saya into the temple, making sure she was ok, and waiting fro her to wake up, Omi had to tell the whole story to them all. Master Fung seemed pretty agitated when he found out that Omi had bet the temple in the showdown, but Omi swore that it was ether that or let Saya become cat food. Everything seemed ok; Saya was fine, they were adding three Shen Gong Wu to the vault, Chase's plans had failed miserably (they hoped), and…
"Someone's broken into the vault!" Clay shouted as he ran into the bed chamber where the others were. "There's at least twenty Shen Gong Wu missin'!"
"What! Twenty Wu!" Kimiko exclaimed.
"How's that possible?" Rai asked. "Even if Jack has the Serpents Tail, there's no way that he could steal Twenty Wu without us noticing. It's not humanly possible!"
"True." Master Fung broke in. "But it may be that we are not dealing with a human. Or, it is quite possible that, should Jack have a Shen Gong Wu called the Combo-Sickle, he could've attached the Shen Gong Wu together and flew out with the Serpents Tail." He explained.
"You know, Jack was holding a weird looking scythe last time we saw him." Saya said. "That could be the Combo-Sickle you're talking about."
"It could be. But that is not important right now." Master Fung continued. "What is important is that we have lost Twenty Shen Gong Wu. Clay, could you tell us which ones are missing?"
"Well, I raced out of there about as fast as my daddy can wolf down a thanks-giving turkey dinner so I can't give ya a full list," Clay admitted, "but I couldn't find the Third Arm Sash, Mikado Arms, Woozy Shooter, Ju-Ju Flytrap, or the Manchurian Musca. Other than that, I have no idea."
"Some of Jacks favorites, of course." Omi droned.
"Well, Today has just been going perfectly!" Rai chuckled, using a bit more sarcasm than usual. "Omi almost lost our home in a showdown, we've lost twenty plus Wu, and Chase has some unpredictable plan that will undoubtedly lead to yet another ten thousand years of darkness. But wait! There's a bright side to all this, Omi has actually stopped trying to use slang! It's a Christmas miracle!"
"Shut down, Raimundo!" Omi barked. Everyone started to laugh hysterically, even Master Fung got a chuckle out of this.
"Thanks for ruining the moment, chrome dome." Rai joked.
"And you mean 'shut up' Omi." Saya corrected him.
"If you five are finished making fun of Omi's inability to use slang," Dojo broke in as he slithered into the room with the ancient scroll of the Shen Gong Wu under his arm, "We've got a Shen Gong Wu alert!"
"Greaaaaaaaaaaaat!" Rai groaned. "So which Shen Gong Wu are you guys going after this time? Of course I won't be able to go" he muttered "Stupid Hammer" under his breath so no one could hear him.
"Actually, Raimundo, you've been progressing quite well, according to Kimiko. I believe that, so long as you don't get into a Xiaolin Showdown, you should be able to go with your friends." Master Fung said. Rai glanced over to Kimiko who gave him a quick smile. He nodded, smiling back at her, and wrapped his arm around he shoulders.
"So, what's the Wu already?" Clay asked.
"There are four of them." Dojo announced. "They're the four sister Shen Gong Wu of the Sapphire Gauntlet. You see when Dashi hid these five, he used a certain magic on them that would only le the other four activate once one was used. So, when Omi used the Sapphire Gauntlet in the Showdown, these four went active. There's the Diamond Gauntlet, which is like the sapphire one, only it makes an energy sword instead of a shield; the Ruby Gauntlet, which can basically turn the user into a shooting star, not recommended outside of a showdown; the Emerald Gauntlet, which turns the users arms into long range plasma cannons; and finally there's the Amethyst Gauntlet. The Amethyst Gauntlet is sort of odd. It's not a weapon like the others. How did Dashi put it again, oh yeah! It 'reveals lost truths', so you could probably figure out the world's greatest mysteries or something."
Saya shuttered and bit her lip at the explanation of the Amethyst Gauntlet. "Reveals lost truths." Why did that sound so menacing to her? Why did it seem like if anyone used that Wu, they would find out something terrible about her? But she didn't have anything to hide… did she? There was a blank spot in here memory from about a year ago, but it was as brief as an hour or two. She dismissed her troubled thoughts and went back to her usual, cheerful self as she and the others left to gather the four Gauntlets.