Emily POV
When I finally caught up with the others, they were still wondering where the Wu was. No one had even noticed I was gone. I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but I sure wasn't going to say anything. I rubbed the back of my neck in irritation. That guy really rubbed me the wrong way... sometimes. Others, I actually started to think I wanted him to rub me the wrong way. I shook my head to clear out the nonsense. Blis looked at me strangely, but thankfully didn't say anything.
As we walked I continued to look around at our surroundings. Dojo was acting weirder and weirder, which I took as a good sign. Sure enough, Omi soon spotted a shining silver disk in the ceiling. As we stood looking at it, a flutter of motion caught my eye. I looked, and there stood The Guy, as I had dubbed him. I pulled on Blis' sleeve, and asked her "Hey, who is that?" She looked, and a frown creased her forehead. "That's Chase Young," she replied in a whisper. "As I told you before, he's bad news." I nodded, and hoped my surprise didn't show on my face. So The Guy was actually Chase Young. Whoops. I shrugged to myself. No one really needed to know I had a little crush on him.
While I was thinking this, Blis had alerted the other monks to Chase's presence. They sort of circled around me, and I snorted. Right. Just because I hadn't had their level of training didn't mean I hadn't had any at all. I was more than capable of defending myself.
"Chase Young!" cried Omi as he crouched and pointed at the man. "What are you doing here?" I snorted again. What did he think Chase was doing here? Throwing a party? Chase raised one of his eyebrows, just like he had done to me the day before. "Not what you expect, young monk." And then at some unseen signal, everyone launched themselves towards the Wu, and my life changed forever.
Blis and Chase were the first to touch the Quiksilver. It started to glow, and Blis said, "Chase Young, I challenge you to a Xiaolin showdown. Our Third-Arm Sash against... what do you have?" Chase's answering smile sent shivers down my back. I knew this wasn't going to be good. "I don't have a Wu, actually, so I suggest something else. If I win the showdown, Emily leaves with me and will not come back to the temple... ever. If you win, I will leave you alone, and none of you will ever hear from me again unless it's absolutely necessary. Do you accept?"
You could cut the silence with a knife, it was so thick. It seemed as if the very stones held their breath for my sister's answer. But it didn't come. Blis just kept staring at Chase, a horrified expression on her face. I'm sure it mirrored mine and the others. "I... What... What do you want with Emily?" she finally managed to stutter. Chase's smile widened, and he didn't answer. I looked around. Everyone seemed frozen. I knew what I had to do.
"I accept."
Chase turned to me, and smiled. "I'm very glad, little one, but I didn't wager with you. I'm dealing with your sister right now." Now I was mad. "Well you know what? I don't care. It's my life your fighting for, so I think I have a right to fight for it too." Chase looked at Blis. "Do you accept the substitution?" His words seemed to break Blis out of her shock. "Oh, hell no! No way in hell are you fighting him, Emily! You don't have the faintest idea of what you'd be getting into! You don't even know how to fight! I mean..." She trailed off at my glare. "Let me tell you something, Sister. A lot has happened since we last met. I've changed, and so have you. And despite theses changes one thing has remained the same, and you should know this: no one tells me I can or can not do something but me. What right have you to tell me what I don't know? Who are you to tell me I can't fight for my life? Yeah, you're concerned, I get that. But you don't know me half as well as you think you do. And I can, and will, fight for myself. If I fail, it's my fault and my consequence. Not yours. I can take care of myself, thank you very much, and if you insist on fighting, I'll just have to break the rules and join in anyway."
Blis' eyes had grown so large during my tirade that I thought they might just fall out of her head. For some reason Chase's smirk had grown. I had a feeling I'd just walked into something I could only imagine the magnitude of. Thankfully Blis stepped down, and I took her place.
I faced off against Chase. We weren't going to use Shen Gon Wu because he didn't have any. I looked at him, and knew that I would lose. But I had to try anyway. I couldn't just sit by and let someone else do it for me. He crouched down into a fighting stance. "I trust you don't know showdown etiquette, so allow me to explain," he said. "Anything short of actually killing the person goes. First one to fall loses. Anything else you need to know will make itself apparent as we go along. Any questions?" I raised my eyebrows at his superior tone. How in the world did I ever like him in the first place? "Yeah, I've got a question. Can we stop talking and get this over with? I'm not a big fan of waiting for the inevitable to happen." Chase looked faintly surprised by my words. I could tell he hadn't quite expected them.
At some unseen signal the landscape around us began to change. Huge pillars shot up and the ground fell away into a pool of lava that flowed around our feet. Poles of rock shot out of the walls and formed a network of ladders above our heads. Things to grab onto and to use, I guessed.
While I was taking in my surroundings, Chase launched himself at me. I only narrowly avoided getting hit. I jumped out of the way, then jumped up to grasp one of the poles. I pulled myself onto it, balancing carefully as I looked around for Chase. He came from behind me, I spun, dodged, and lashed out myself. My fist actually connected with his nose, and while it didn't do much damage, it did make Chase mad. I smiled. Goal achieved. Maybe now he'd take ma little bit more seriously. Sure enough, I was met with a barrage of punches. I was able to block most of them, but a few did get through. One of his fists connected with my face, and I felt my nose crunch sideways as it broke. Warm blood spurted down my face onto my shirt. I grimaced and wiped it away. I'd had worse, but they didn't really need to know that, did they?
Chase had a smug look on his face again. It majorly pissed me off for some reason. I just wanted to wipe that stupid smirk right off his face. It was childish,and stupid I know, but I pulled back my fist, and swung. He easily dodged that, and the ki9ck, and the sideswipe, and the next kick and punch too. I almost slipped a few times, but it was getting easier to keep my balance on the poles. I stopped after the seventh time Chase just moved out of the way. I wasn't going anywhere. I'd been in some seriously unfair fights before, but nothing like this. I seriously had to rethink my strategy if I wanted to have any hope at all.
Okay, first thing: stop thinking negative about this. He's got to have a weakness somewhere, right? Well, find it, I told myself. Second: hang in there. Keep this up, and you wont get anywhere. You've got to last to be able to do the first step, right? Right. So now I just had to... "MOVE!" Blis' cry made me look up, but it was too lat. Chase's fist connected with my nose again, and this time I went flying backwards. Ouch. The first punch was nothing compared to this. But I'd still had worse, and I was still in trouble.
I grabbed at anything as I slid off the edge of the pillar I had landed on. My fingers managed to find a crevice in the rock. As my feet scrabbled to find purchase, Chase landed softly in front of me. I stared up at him, my heart in my throat. I knew I was about to lose this fight, and my freedom.
Chase POV
I stared down at the girl in front of me. Her eyes showed no fear, only a slightly resigned look. But I could also see determination there. I watched as she managed to pull herself up onto the platform. She watched me cautiously as she wiped blood from her face. I watched her in return. Honestly I was surprised she had lasted this long. Most of the monk hadn't lasted three minutes against him, and here Emily had managed to survive almost fifteen. We faced off again, simply watching each other this time, wondering which one of us would make the first move towards the end. We both knew I would win, there was no denying that. But she had potential. I hadn't seriously thought about training her yet... maybe that was something I'd better give more attention to. What a pity we had to do things this way.
I reached out and brushed some hair out of her face where it had stuck in the blood. I don't know why I did it, or why she let me do it, but I did, and she did. I admired her courage in this battle. "It has been a long time since I had a fight such as this," I whispered to Emily. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?" I just looked at her. "Why?" she repeated. "Why me? What could I possibly give to you, do for you? I have no powers, no serious fighting skills. I don't understand your interest in me. So why?" I remained silent and watchful during her tirade, which was spoken in the same volume I had used. A sudden flash of regret swept through me.
I reached out again, this time with both hands. "I'm sorry." I murmured, this time too low for anyone to hear me. Emily's face registered shock as I pushed her back off the pillar. The surprise remained as she fell, and with a flash, things returned to normal.
Emily was beside me, facing away from the monks. Held the Quiksilver. The Dragon of Light stepped forward. "Em?" she said tentatively. "Emily? Are you alright?" Emily looked over her shoulder at her sister, showing her the less bloody side of her face. "Yeah, Blis I'm fine." She glanced at me. "The Wu's all yours," I said as I tossed it to them. They all had tragic looks on their faces. "Em... Em, don't worry! I'll find some way to get you out f this, I promise!" I raised my eyebrows. Emily simply turned away from them again. Dojo swelled to his full size, and the other warriors got on. As they flew away, Blis turned back to look at us. As they dwindled in size, I turned to the girl beside me. I offered her my arm, and she looked at me curiously before taking it.
I teleported us to my palace. Wuya was there, and she gaped with surprise when she saw Emily. I motioned one of my female cats closer. "Take her to her room. Help her if she needs it, and make sure she has everything she needs. When she has bathed and dressed, attend to her nose. She can rest if she likes, but I will expect her for dinner. Am I understood?" The panther nodded, and nudged Emily away with her head. Emily followed docilely.
"Chase... What... What is she doing here?" Wuya spat out. I ignored her and motioned a few other cats closer. "Go to the Xiaolin temple and retrieve the girl's things. They shouldn't give you any trouble." They nodded and shifted into their crow forms, then flew away. "Chase, are you going to answer me?" Wuya demanded again. Instead of answering, I walked up the stairs to my throne room. When I sat down, a servant brought me my soup, but I motioned them away. I didn't think I could keep anything down at the moment.
Wuya approached again as I rubbed my forehead with one of my hands. What was wrong with me? I shouldn't be feeling like this. I am the Prince of Darkness, I am Chase Young, and Chase Young does NOT feel sorry for other people! But I couldn't get the image of Emily's face out of my head. It wasn't because some tortuous feeling was displayed there, no. Quite the opposite in fact. Never before had I seen someone shut themselves down so completely. It was a little scary, actually.
"Chase?" Darn it. I'd forgotten about Wuya. I glared at her. "What?" I snapped. "Why... why is the Dragon of Light's sister here?" I sighed then, a long deep sigh. "I don't know, Wuya, I really don't."
A/N: And that's the end of this chapter. I hope you guys liked it. Poor Chase is so confused. But that's ok, it all works out. :) Review and I might give you a sneak peek!