War.

In one quick move the dragon wiped them all out. Breathing a flame that shone so brightly it nearly illuminated the whole area it incinerated all of Jacks' robots. Now ashes, they fell to the ground like snow.

With a shriek the dragon then reached for Jack, who was still cowering below it. Seeing the shadow of its' arm getting closer to him Jack quickly scurried to his feet and activated his helipack.

"Why are you attacking me ?" he shouted fearfully.

The dragon responded with another breath of fire, which jack avoided. Despite the distance between him and the flame, Jack could still feel the heat of the fire, so intense that beads of sweat were beginning to roll down his face.

"Help me !" Jack cried, only to be met by more flames.

Seeing him in peril, Omi charged in holding the Orb of Tornami.

"Orb of Tornami, Water !"

Omi had come into the dragon's field of vision when he attacked. Seeing the large torrent of water heading towards it the dragon breathed fire at it in response. Both water and fire collided in mid-air, creating steam at the point of contact that spewed sideways. Being forced back slightly from the fire, which nearly overpowered him momentarily, Omi strengthened his stance. Despite this the fire proved to be too powerful and quickly the balance between both water and fire was broken in the dragons' favour as the fire began eating away at the water.

Before the flames could reach him, Clay managed to lasso Omi out of the fires' path. It struck the ground with a loud thump, sending clods of dirt flying in all directions and leaving a small, smoking crater where Omi had previously stood.

"That was a close one little partner." Clay remarked.

"The force of its' fire is most powerful."

Another breath of fire was shot. This time at the monks themselves. Kimiko immediately threw herself in front of it.

"Wudai Fire Shield !"

She successfully shielded everyone from the fire, leaving a huge explosion in front of them. As the smoke settled the dragon flew towards them.

"Fist of Tebigong, Earth !"

Clay managed to strike the flying dragon in the chest as it came in closer, sending the winged beast backwards with a shriek. Raimundo then moved in to attack.

"Wind Roar !"

He expelled a huge blast of hurricane force wind which tore apart any ground that it came into contact with, along with forcing the unbalanced dragon backwards.

Angry it got back up into the air. It outstretched its' wings and then stretched them back as far as they could go. With a powerful flap it sent a shockwave through the air that managed to knock everyone down to the ground and left an even bigger crater than the one it had previously created with its' fire.

"Is everyone ok ?" Raimundo asked. He looked around and saw the others getting up, trembling slightly, but still able to stand up without hesitation.

"Star Hanabi Fire !"

Kimiko sent a bout of fire that could almost rival the breath of the dragon, hurdling towards it. Instead of trying to counter it the dragon remained stationary and let the fire strike it. It was unaffected by it. Once it struck the dragon the fire merely dissolved into the dragon, leaving Kimiko shocked.

"No way. Fire doesn't work on it."

The dragon landed straight in front of her, forcing her away from the others. With a swipe of its' arm it attempted to claw at her while she moved backwards away from it. Swipe after swipe it missed her until finally it stopped and swung its' tail.

It struck her in the stomach and knocked her back along with knocking the wind out of her. Breathing in pain she attempted to move backwards in order to avoid the advancing dragon.

Then a powerful force of wind struck the dragon, along with a torrent of water that ended up hitting the dragon in the chest and freezing, providing Kimiko the opportunity to escape and reach the others. Another torrent of water was sent towards it, followed by more in rapid succession, each successfully freezing more and more of it until finally it was completely frozen .

Omi then stopped. The dragon, now enclosed in ice, was unmoving, virtually a statue, an entirely immobile beast that could now be considered an item of display.

"Ha ha I did it !" Omi shouted with glee.

"Well done Omi." Kimiko said while giving him a congratulatory hug.

"It's really beaten then ?" Ellie asked cautiously.

"For now at least. We can figure out what to do with it later. After all Omi froze himself for thousands of years once and the ice never melted." Clay replied to her.

Raimundo walked over to the dragon. Its' head was hanging down when it was frozen, almost level with his own. Through the ice he could see the dragon's face, its' eyes, entirely green, gave it the appearance of a lifeless creature.

Ping Pong walked over to him.

"Is everything ok ?"

"It seems like it was beaten way to easily."

"You are making it sound like that is a bad thing."

"I'm just saying, for something that's supposed to bring unimaginable destruction it was stopped very easily."

Then something from within the ice caught Raimundo's eye. The dragon's chest. There was a faint shine coming from it.

"Is there a problem ?"

The light began to radiate, appearing to flicker on and off like a broken light bulb, becoming even brighter each time. It didn't take long for Raimundo to notice that this was beginning to happen all around the dragon's body. The others stopped celebrating when they eventually noticed this.

"Ping Pong get back." Raimundo ordered.

The two moved back and watched as it began to illuminate more.

On the ice a small drop of water rolled off and splashed onto the ground.

Then another droplet followed by another. Soon numerous drops began to fall off and the ice began to melt. Parts of the dragon were already beginning to become more exposed.

"Get back to the others now !" Raimundo once again ordered Ping Pong.

"But what about yo…"

"Just do it. If you get hurt by this thing then it will a crushing blow to all of us. Understand ?"

Ping Pong nodded before rejoining the others.

An arm was now free and moving. Omi once again tried to freeze the dragon, only for the water to turn to steam upon contact.

"It must be increasing its' body heat." Raimundo thought. "That must explain the glowing inside it. It looks like its' creating a fire inside its' body to raise its heat."

Its' chest was now melting away quickly and the other arm was now unfrozen.

"Kimikos' fire won't work, I don't wanna run the risk of Ping Pong getting badly hurt, and Ellie is too inexperienced. That just leaves me, Omi and Clay left to beat it."

He immediately ran over to the others. The dragon was now able to move a lot more freely. It would only be a matter of second before the ice was completely melted.

"Kimiko, you, Ellie and Ping Pong stay here and attack only if it's completely necessary."

"I understand." Kimiko responded.

"Me, Clay and Omi have the best chance right now so the three us will have to fight together."

"Gotcha partner."

"Let us do this."

The three jumped into action, leaping in at three different sides of the dragon, Omi to its' far left, Clay to its' right and Raimundo facing it directly.

Kimiko felt helpless as she watched Omi, Clay and Raimundo take on the dragon. Water, Earth and Wind came in from all directions, striking it but to seemingly no effect. It felt odd to see the three of them fighting without her, having been used to all four of them fighting together against a strong opponent.

A brilliant flash of fire from the dragon illuminated the area as it moved to try and hit the three monks. All of them jumped back to avoid it.

"It must have some weakness." Kimiko said to herself.

"Wudai crater Earth !" Clay shouted, launching a patch of ground from beneath the dragon, striking it with great force.

"Kimiko are you alright ?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah. I'm just trying to figure something out." she repiled.

Before she could get back to analysing the dragon she spotted something in the sky, an object that contrasted with that of the night sky. It was moving, blocking the stars as it did. It appeared to be human in shape as it got closer. Then the light from the fire made the person clearer to see. Kimiko's heart almost stopped when she realised who it was. The dragon of darkness.

"Oh no it's him. How did he get here ?"

She looked at Raimundo, Clay and Omi. Neither of them seemed to notice him approaching.

Knowing that Iain would only prove to be another problem for the others if he were to attack Kimiko knew that she had to keep him away. She aimed the Star of Hanabi at him.

"Star of Hanabi, Fire !"

She blasted a continuous flow of fire at him, forcing him to move sideways significantly away from the others and the dragon.

Seeing the person responsible for firing at him, Iain flew down to meet her. Kimiko stopped when he touched the ground, leaving space between the two.

"Back away from the temple now." Kimiko threatened.

"I'm not here to fight you dragon of fire."

"Well that's too bad for you, cause I'm all you're gonna get." Kimiko said before leaping forwards to strike him. Iain held his arm up as her fist struck. Kimiko felt her hand hit something that was hard. She looked at Iain and saw that he had scales covering him.

"Oh great." Kimiko said, sounding annoyed. "Don't think you have the advantage because you have the scales on."

"I really don't want to waste my energy fighting you but seeing as you're only going to get in my way if I don't then I have no choice."

"The two charged at one another, Iain striking first with a high kick in an attempt to hit her in the head. Ducking to avoid, Kimiko tried to sweep Iain in order to knock him down. He jumped up in order to avoid it and as he came down he swiped across with his left arm but missed Kimiko.

Iain then ripped the Eye of Dashi from around his neck and aimed it at Kimiko who reacted quickly by taking out the Star of Hanabi.

Both called out the names of their respective Shen Gong Wu and in a flash both fire and lightning burst out and collided in midair, causing both attacks to cancel each other out in a small explosion.

"Through the smoke Kimiko came running towards Iain.

"Star of Hanabi Fire !"

This time the blast of fire was successful, hitting Iain straight on, not giving him anytime to avoid it. It sent him flying backwards onto the ground. Even with the dragon scales on Iain had to admit that he could feel the fire and that it burned him. He stood up, and red marks on him indicated that he had effectively been burned. Seeing him like this made her more confident.

"You're gonna be burned a lot worse if you keep fighting me." Kimiko asserted.

"Then quit fighting me because I'm not the enemy.

Kimiko not buying his words attacked him, conjuring fire around her fists and moving in to punch him.

"Sure like I'll believe that."

Kimiko began to try hit him.

"Think about it." Iain said while avoiding her fists. "Compare me to that dragon and guess who the lesser of two evils is."

She paused briefly and looked over. Raimundo, Clay and Omi were now no longer using their elements but instead were physically attacking the dragon. Omi, using the Shimo Staff, came up behind the dragon and struck it. Clay then came along and struck the dragon's head. All three looked like they were growing tired while the dragon, despite the attacks it had taken, showed no sign that it had been badly affected by them. Kimiko then looked back at Iain.

"As much as hate this idea myself we're going to have to join forces to bring it down."

"And when we do you're gonna attack while we're tired from the fight." Kimiko retorted.

Iain extended his hand and held out the Eye of Dashi.

"This is yours, take it. The only Shen Gong Wu I have any real interest in are the gems."

Kimiko hesitated for a moment. She found it hard to trust him after their first encounter.

"I'm not asking for your trust, just for your cooperation with me. It's not like I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart, I have my own plans."

"I don't need to know your life story." Kimiko responded as she accepted the Eye of Dashi from him. "If you're really going to help us then get in there and fight."

Kimiko recalled the time when Omi called a truce with Chase Young in order to prevent the giant spiders from devouring the world. The situation they were in currently with Iain was similar. Perhaps he could be trusted to help them beat the dragon. He was, after all, a Xiaolin Dragon himself, not to mention the fact he arrived at the right time and offered his help. Despite that Kimiko knew she would have to be ready if he tried anything.

With the Eye of Dashi in hand she fired lightning from it at the dragon, striking it in the eye, annoying the dragon to some extent.

A strike of the dragon's tail sent Raimundo flying backwards before it focused on who had just struck it with lightning. He had become distracted by the sudden appearance of Iain and even more so by the fact that Kimiko was now fighting him. Both Omi and Cay were doing their best against the dragon but he knew that both of them, along with him, were growing tired. The dragon was seemingly unstoppable, able to continue fighting after all of them hitting it with their attacks.

He got up from the ground, shaking slightly but still standing. He couldn't give up, not after holding out for this long.

Suddenly he felt something strike him. It wasn't pain or an attack of any sort. He was overcome with a sensation that was pleasant. It felt as if he had just went through the most pleasant sleep of his life. Suddenly he didn't feel tired anymore, he felt well rested and able to fight again.

"Ready to go again ?" he heard Iain ask from behind him.

"That was you ?"

Iain nodded.

He then raised both hands, aiming them at Omi and Clay.

"Dark Blessing."

From both his hands came two shots of black and night-blue coloured magic. Both shots struck Omi and Clay, bringing them back to full strength.

Raimundo faced Iain.

"Why are you helping us ?"

"My own reasons."

The dragon screeched, turning its' attention away from Kimiko, Ellie and Ping Pong and back to them.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to beat this thing do you ?" Raimundo asked Iain.

"Best I can suggest is hit it and give it no time to react before the next strike."

Iain conjured up darkness around both his hands, covering them completely. Omi and Clay ran over to them.

"What is he doing here ?" Omi asked.

"He's gonna help us fight this dragon."

"What !" Omi shouted in disbelief.

"Rai I think you might have hurt your head a bit too hard from when, you know, he fought you." Clay pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. Right now we need al the help we can get."

"Well I spose he can help. After all he did return us back to full strength just now."

"Exactly, so lets put aside everything for now and get things done."

"Right." both Omi and Clay said in unison.

The dragon took to the air, breathing more fire at all four of them. Everyone jumped out of the way before it struck.

Iain jumped forward at the dragon, striking it across the face with several punches before moving out of the way.

"Shoku Astro Wind !"

Raimundo sent a powerful gust of wind which surprisingly managed to budge the dragon a fair bit. Iain who had snuck behind during Raimundo's attack hammered down on the top of its' head.

Using his seismic kick, Clay sent two small boulders from the ground towards the dragon which struck it at the points where its' wings connected to its' body. Both shattered and the dragon crashed to the ground.

"Shimo Staff, Kaijin Charm !"

Omi's Wudai Weapon enlarged into a giant hammer and struck the dragon with enough force to move it significantly.

"Ellie, Ping Pong, come with me." Kimiko said.

The trio ran off.

Attempting to get up, the dragon was met by two shots of Iain's darkness which he had fired from both his fists. They struck it on the head, forcing it back down, but not for long, getting back up on bothe legs and preparing to blast fire at Iain.

"Orb of Tornami, Ice !"

Omi aimed the orb at the dragon's legs, freezing them briefly to the ground. Iain seeing his chance flew in and kicked the dragon across the face. Raimundo and Clay then charged in, Raimundo speeding himself up using the wind and Clay ready to strike with the Fist of Tebigong. Both struck the dragon in the chest. It swiped at the two of them, forcing them backwards and allowing itself to get back up, breaking the ice that was around it's legs.

"Ok guys now ! Eye of Dashi ! Kimiko shouted aloud as she came running out from the Shen Gong Wu vault with Ellie and Ping Pong following her, holding the Thorn of Thunderbolts and Denshi Bunny.

"Thorn of Thunderbolts !"

"Denshi Bunny !"

Ping Pong turned into lightning and joined with the bolts fired from the other Shen Gong Wu. All three of their attacks sped towards the dragon. Flying through the air they struck it, sending a huge voltage pulsating through its body. Ping Pong returned to normal and ran back to Kimiko and Ellie.

It now shrieked angrily, irritated by the fact that a bunch of humans were getting the better of it. It scanned it's head around the area, carefully looking at each individual facing it. In front of it was Raimundo and Clay. Behind them at the entrance to the temple were Kimiko, Ellie and Ping Pong. It turned around and saw Omi and Iain behind it. Judging from the distance that the three behind two of the people it was fighting were, it was able to come to the conclusion that it should take them out first to prevent them from bothering it while it fought the other four.

Flapping it's wings aggressively, the dragon launched itself above everyone, shattering they ground with the force they exerted. It's chest then began to glow like it did when it was frozen earlier. It's jaws opened and a small flame could be seen shining in them Then the flame began to grow bigger and it's mouth opened wider. They began to take on a round shape, giving the appearance of a small sun. It's fire, now even brighter, shone so strongly it was bright enough to hurt the eyes of anyone whose field of vision it came into, forcing them to look away.

Iain and Omi, who were behind the dragon, could see exactly where it was aiming.

"Kimiko, Ping Pong, Ellie look out !" Omi warned them.

"It's aiming the attack right at you."

Just as he finished speaking the dragon fired the attack. It blasted a ball of fire that was almost pure whit flames. The three of them, unable to see due to it's brightness attempted to run away, but the attack was too fast. Kimiko realised it was pointless to run jumped in front of the two.

"Wudai Fire Shield !"

The attack struck and although the three of them were not directly hit by the blast the attack was so powerful that it managed to knock them to the ground along with a burning them slightly. Outside the radius of Kimiko's shield the rest of the attack, so power that the ground shook as it struck, wiped out a small portion of the temple grounds, leaving nothing but a huge crater where the entrance to the temple once was.

All three, hurt and burnt, managed to stand up.

"They're ok." a relieved Raimundo said.

"Attack it now !" Iain shouted.

Hearing him, the dragon turned towards Iain.

"Wudai Neptune Water !"

"Wudai Nebula Darkness !"

"Shoku Astro Wind !"

"Wudai Crater Earth !"

All four sent attacks of their respective elements at the dragon. One after the other they struck from different direction. For the most part they didn't seem to do much, looking like they simply irked the dragon, except for Clays attack which struck the dragon and managed to push it backwards and forced it near the ground. Iain's eyes widened when he saw this.

"That's it. It's weakness." he thought.

"You, Dragon of Earth !" he shouted over at Clay, getting his attention. "Your earth attacks are working the best against it.

The dragon heard what Iain said and lunged at him. It breathed a quick stream of fire at him. Which Iain moved out of the way of. It moved closer to him, sizing him up in order to intimidate him. Iain, jumping backwards first and then leaping into the air, flew behind the dragon to get a safer distance from it. The dragon's eyes followed him as he did.

"This thing seems to understand what we're saying." he thought.

"I'm not going down just yet. Especially not from you !" Iain said to the dragon like he was asserting superiority over it. "I can roar too !"

Raimundo, hearing him, knew exactly what Iain was planning. While the dragon was focused on Iain, Raimundo decided the would strike the dragon with the same attack.

"Dark…"

"Wind…"

"ROAAARRRRR!" both shouted.

Both attacks hit the dragon with such incredible force that it actually experienced them doing damage. Though it showed no signs of damage, it still knew the attacks hurt.

"I think it's …"

The dragon jumped at Iain, grabbing onto him as it did and sinking it's claws into him, managing to break through the thick scales he had covering him, causing him to scream in pain. It began to lift him into the air, ignoring the others on the ground who attempted to hit it.

While the dragon flew higher into the air with him, Iain attempted to remove the claws from him. He grabbed hold of the arms and tried to pull them out but to no avail. The dragon's grasp on him was too strong and he was met with even more pain as his attempts to dislodge it's claws only moved them around.

Then it stopped. The dragon now hovered over one of the buildings in the temple.

"It looks like they're over the Shen Gong Wu vault." Kimiko observed.

Iain then felt the dragon's grip loosen. He felt the claws gliding out of his shoulders where it had grabbed him. As he fell away from it he noticed that it's wings were outstretched into the air.

Then a thunderous flap of the wings sent a powerful shockwave directly at him. Iain had no time to react and was struck by it, sending him crashing into the vault. The others looked on in shock. The dragon then sent a breath of fire at the foundation of the building, shaking the ground slightly and causing the building to collapse with Iain inside.

"I… Is he …" Ellie tried to talk but was cut off by Raimundo.

"As soon as that dragon comes over here you and Ping Pong run over there and get him out."

"Right."

Raimundo then turned to Clay.

"Earth is it's weakness. That means you're then one with the power to beat it."

"I read ya loud and clear partner."

"The three of us will attack it but Clay will have to do most of the work. So if we want to finish it off quickly…"

Raimundo turned to Kimiko.

"I know." Kimiko placed her hand on Clay. "Fires blessing."

A brilliant yellow flame appeared around her hand and then began to radiate around Clay before fading.

"Much appreciated."

Overhead the shadow of the dragon flew was cast over them. It eyed the four monks and proceeded to land in front of them.

"One last strike. Attack !"

"Wudai Crater Earth !" Clay roared as he stamped his foot into the ground.

A large, jagged piece of rock erupted from the ground striking the dragon in the chest and sending it backwards. Then more erupted from the ground at it, each successfully hitting the same spot as the first until the dragon was knocked over.

As it attempted to get up Raimundo attacked it.

"Wind Roar !"

A massive tornado forced it back to the ground.

"Orb of Tornami. Water !"

Omi ran around the dragon in a circle, quickly freezing both of it's arms and legs to the ground.

"Clay. Quickly, before it melts the ice again."

"Fist of Tebigong, Earth !"

Clay slammed his fist into the ground, creating a pillar of rock from beneath the dragon that smashed into it's back so fiercely that it ripped the dragon's arms and legs from the ice as it sent the dragon hurdling upwards before it crashed to the ground.

Staggered and finding it painful stand, the dragon let out one last shriek before Omi froze it by the chest to the pillar of rock behind it.

"One last move should do it." Omi said.

"Gotcha little partner. Wudai Crater Earth !"

This time Clay slammed both fists into the ground, sending three large columns of earth, one on front of it and two on the left and right hand sides, erupting from the ground and closing in on the dragon. All three smashed fiercely into the dragon and one another, creating a sound that could be heard from far away. The noise died down and for a moment nothing happened. Cracks soon began to form on them and soon all three columns began to collapse on top of the dragon. It's final shrieks could be heard amidst the rumbling and crashing of the many rocks that rained down on it. Raimundo was able to make out the beast trying to escape at one point but to no avail.

Dust appeared and once it had finally settled, once everything had stopped, beneath a large pile of rocks, the head of the finally beaten dragon could be seen sticking out from it, unmoving.

Raimundo looked at closely, completely sure that it would not be getting back up, and noticed that it's head was catching fire. It then broke out in a blue fire, the same as when it had emerged from the it's gem, forcing Raimundo back. The pile of rocks was destroyed as the entire body erupted in flames. Everyone watched as it's head and the rest of its body eventually shrunk back into one another.

It had now gone back to being a gem, except this time the brilliant light that radiated from within it when they first saw it had now been reduced to an almost fading glow.

With that they now had the first gem in their possession and their first triumph over the destructive power that they had. Iain had been dragged out of the rubble of what was once the Shen Gong Wu vault, unconscious and badly hurt, but still alive. The best guess as to why he had survived was that the scales he had on protected him from a lot of the damage. What would happen with him next was unclear. For now though they could rest but not easily for there are still three more gems out there and it was only a matter of time before the next one will activate.

Next Chapter: A letter home.