Recap
"I have bad news young monks Jermaine is being held by Dark Phoenix" master Fung said "and Raimundo has gone to save him alone."
"We have to help him!" Kim shouted.
"Raimundo is a soldier he is cold and heartless when the time comes" one monk said.
Inside Dark Phoenix US headquarters
"Why you risked your cover so that I could save one person makes no sense to me" Rai said.
"This way were even" Lisa told Rai.
"Shall we go then?" Rai asked.
"Definitely" Lisa said opening up the path to the sub-basement "you really are lucky that I know you like to jump the gun."
"Oh yeah how so?" Rai asked as he headed down stairs.
"Your two minutes early anyone else would've still been waiting and the cameras would've been active and you would never have been able to get this far" Lisa told him as she followed him down the stairs. "Maybe I should take the lead in case anybody is there."
"If someone is there it's better if I kill them before they see you don't forget I can feel disturbances in the wind" Rai told her. They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Why is this place so deserted?"
"They didn't think they needed guards because this place is supposed to be a secret base no one knows about whats really here and you need to be a fire elemental. Also I made sure to have you enter at the time between shift changes so right now there are only half as many people as usual on duty. Meaning that on this floor we have 5 guards and this is where we have the interrogation room your friend is in."
"Well planned as ever" Rai said smirking. "You know the plan right?"
"Yeah" Lisa said as they arrived at the interrogation room. She went in alone there was a video camera that was on a separate system from the security cameras and was still being monitored. "Well Jermaine looks like the powers that be have decided that you really don't know anything."
"So can I go?" Jermaine asked still with that defiant look in his eye.
"Actually your going to be executed in two days so I'm here to see what you want for a last meal" Lisa said jokingly.
That's the sign. Rai opened the door knocked out Lisa used his elemental powers to cut the chains holding Jermaine wrapped one of his arms around Jermaine and with Jermaine limping next to him left the room. "Great timing" Jermaine said to Rai before passing out. Rai made it to the basement before the guards had finally caught up with him idiots probably went to make sure Lisa was alright Rai thought to himself. Turning into wind Rai went through the wall and made his way to Rio. Rai appeared at the back entrance to the organization HQ where he had a medical team on standby.
Rai pulled out his cell called the temple. It was master Fung who answered "good news I hope young monk" he said.
"Yeah my contact really came through though they did a number on him so he will have to remain in bed for a couple weeks but other than that he's just fine should be awake by tomorrow" Rai told him.
"Raimundo is most certainly in need of our help" Omi said as he paced back and forth in front of the others. Clay was eating like usual and Kim was just sitting there with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees when master Fung came into the room.
"I have word on Raimundo-" before he could continue he was overwhelmed by questions.
"How is he?'"
"How's Jermaine doing?"
"Where are they?"
"As I was going to say Raimundo is unharmed Jermaine however has severe injuries but is expected to make a full recovery. He is unconscious now but is expected to regain consciousness some time in the next few days. Raimundo has invited you all to the organization head quarters so that you can be there when Jermaine wakes if you wish Dojo can take you."
Rio a couple hours later
Dojo was just landing when Rai came out. "Rai!" Kim shouted when she saw him coming to greet them.
"Hey Kim how's it-" Rai was cut off when Kim hit him.
"Why the hell did you go alone? Why didn't you take us with you?"
"I didn't take you with me because we would've been doing just what they wanted. As for going alone when I asked for permission to take my squad my father said no or to be more accurately 'if you go then you go alone I won't risk the lives of my soldiers to save your friend'" Rai explained. "Come on inside we can talk more" Rai motioned that they should follow him Dojo jumped up onto Rais shoulder. "Have you heard from Shiji?" Rai asked him.
"Not for several hundred years. Not since he became a member of the 13 celestial dragons" Dojo told him "why?"
"Because I need to speak with him and the other celestial dragons" Rai said.
"What could be so important that you'd call the celestial dragons together for?" Dojo asked. "Those guys rule over all the dragons in the world."
"That's why" Rai said then seeing the look Dojo was giving him explained. "Chase Young usually kills one or two dragons a year and uses them to make enough soup to survive another couple years but Dark Phoenix has begun capturing them alive" Rai said. "Which -I hate to say- is actually worse than killing them." They were at Rais office now opening the door Rai led them in Omi closed the door behind them. "You remember how I told you that the original shen gong wu had something the others didn't something that was not listed in the instructions" Rai waited for them to all nod "well he figured out what it is."
When Rai didn't tell them Omi asked the question though Dojo had already figured it out. "What is it?"
"Ordinary shen gong wu need human lives the container also called the original shen gong wu needs dragon lives" Dojo said and Rai nodded.
"Like the shen gong wu the more dragon souls put in the more human lives can be stored for every dragon used to create it the original shen gong wu can hold 10 human souls. The one we use was made out of just under 300 dragons and so far Dark Phoenix has captured 168 dragons" Rai told them but there was an ominous look in his eye that whenever they saw it in master Fung it meant things were worse than he was letting on.
"What's with that look Rai?" Clay asked.
"It's nothing for you to worry about at the moment" Rai said "I need to speak with the celestial dragons before I draw any conclusions as to how serious the situation is." Rai pulled out his silver smoke case opened it up grabbed the last smoke lit it and took a drag. Exhaling Rai asked "shall I show you to your rooms?"
"Sure thing" they said standing up Rai led them down the hall turned left down another hall down a flight of stairs and arrived at a row of seven doors and said "the first door is my room the others are all vacant so take your pick."
They all picked their rooms and looked inside each room was pretty much identical from the door to the back wall was 50 feet and from the left wall to the right wall was 60 feet with a bed in the corner farthest from the door "why is the bed so far from the door?" Kim asked.
"Well that's in case someone breaks in it gives you the maximum reaction time possible" Rai explained before saying "things are about to get really hectic around here so you may not see much of me for the next few days."
"What's going on?" Kim asked as they headed back to Rais office.
"Well you see the organization is having a meeting with the companies that support it to see if the expenses are justified which I have to attend. On top of that I have to meet with representatives from the US to see if they're willing to work with us from there I have to get them to take our case to the UN and get us recognized as an independent group but still work with us and that's just this week. That reminds me you never were told were you?"
"Who was never told what?" Omi asked.
"Kim was never told that her father was a supporter of the organization" Rai said Kim just stared at him with a blank expression on her face. "Our science division is way ahead of anything anyone else has which is why our benefactors are so happy with working for us."
"So your saying that my father funds the organization and you guys give him technology that no one else has?" Kim asked as Rai opened the door to his office.
"Yep one of this bases main defenses was turned into a toy by your father the U-bot. Metal that can change its shape when cut it remains solid for a predetermined amount of time then once you've stepped into it it reforms as a semi-liquid trapping you. Your father had his science team come up with a way to make it take on the likeness of its owner" Rai said sitting back in his chair. "Another one of our benefactors is Müller corporation your father's main competitor meaning of course that tensions are running a bit high at these meetings not to mention the fact that the head of the science division hates me and you even though hes never even met you."
"This job takes its toll on you doesn't it Rai?" Clay asked.
"You have no idea" Rai said. "I forgot about the exams that start tomorrow" Rai said throwing his head back and sighing.
"So Rai how did you get Jermaine away from Dark Phoenix?" Clay asked.
"Not that hard when the lead interrogator happens to be a spy trying to find the location of Dark Phoenix's hidden base."
"Don't you already know where that is? I mean don't you already have a spy there?" Kim asked.
"Somehow our spies always seem to die before they get there" Rai said.
"How do you know their dead?" Omi asked.
Rai grimaced as he said "he sends their heads back to us in boxes" Rai looked at the faces of his friends as they paled "so we stopped trying to get inside the walls and have settled for trying to figure out where it is so far all we know is that it is somewhere in Northern Africa though he has a base in South Africa that's where he holds his weekly meetings but other than that we don't know where the base is." There was a knock on the door and a voice said
"I have the list of candidates for you sir."
"Enter" Rai said and a man in a red coat came in put the folder on Rais desk Rai opened the file. "250 candidates that's more than usual probably expect I'll go easy on them how wrong they are" Rai muttered looking at a list of names.
"What's that Rai?" Kim asked.
"Oh nothing it's just every year an exam is held to see who will move up to the next corps 250 members of the red corps have submitted applications to become members of the black corps when usually we only get 20-30 candidates they must expect me to go easy on them" Rai said with a bit of a sadistic grin on his face but it faded when he said "with a group this large I say no more than 10 make it."
"What happens to those who fail? Do they get a second chance?" Kim asked.
"Nope if you fail the exam it's just like when you fail on the battlefield" Rai could see the others didn't understand "if you fail on the battle field you don't get a second chance."
"So they're not allowed to take the exam again?" Kim asked "that's pretty harsh."
"No there is one way to pass and one way to fail. To pass all you have to do is survive the exam which has a death rate of over 80% there are some years where no one survives it. That is why to have 250 candidates is unheard of" Rai explained.
"what kind of exam is this?" Clay asked appalled while Kim just sat there open mouthed Omi who had until recently been too worried about Jermaine to care about the conversation suddenly took interest that Rai had survived.
"Yes I am most curious what did you have to do? Was it difficult? May I try?" He asked.
"Each leader has a different test. When I took the exam I was part of a 5 man team all 35 candidates were put in a maze and the center was only opened when all but one team had been killed off out of the 35 candidates I was that years only survivor killing 13 enemies. So to answer your question Omi no you can't try. My exam will be a survival test seal the elemental powers give them a knife a map where they can see the rendezvous point something to start a fire and then throw them out into the jungle for a month see who survives."
"Why seal their elemental powers?" Kim asked her voice faint.
"It makes it fair to those who don't have elemental powers everyone is given an even shot within the organization" Rai told them. His phone started to vibrate he picked it up reading a text message he just received and suddenly said "I have to go" and bolted out the door.