Voyagers Saga: Null Chi

by Cydra

Turmoil occurs in San Fransisco when a group of mercs from another universe arrives. Now the Chans will have to deal with resurfacing demons, ancient dragon magic, and a whole lot of alien things, with little chance of normalcy in sight.

12. Monster Proportions

Chapter 12: Monster Proportions

The Himalayan Mountains are truly a breathtaking sight. Being the highest mountain range in the world, they can conceal numerous secrets. But the most amazing by far is the tallest mountain of them all, Mt. Everest. Many people have dreams of climbing it. But some find them climbing it rather against their wishes.

Matt was one of these people. "Explain to me again...why are we walking instead of taking a dropship?" he said.

"Because the atmosphere's too thin up here," said Techo, "Not to mention it would stick out like a giant sore thumb."

"Oh, for smeg's sake," said Matt, annoyed. Uncle had decided that, has a half dragon, he, Chloe and Kala were carrying the brunt of the equipment.

"How come Jade doesn't have to carry anything?" said Chloe, icily.

"Her Celestial dragon chi will be more active this closer to the heavens," said Uncle, "She could gain great enlightenment up here. And an unburdened mind can better maintained when one's back is not burdened."

"Great...what's your excuse?" said Matt, cheekily

"You want Uncle's spine to snap? Besides, Uncle is holding map," said Uncle.

Matt said, "This is not in our contract. I hate my life."

Chloe said, "How much further? If I hold this pack any longer, I'm gonna pass out...dragon stamina or no dragon stamina."

"Chi-o-matic indicates that disturbance in yin/yang balance is coming from there," said Uncle, pointing at a relatively smaller mountain up ahead with a mostly-flat top.

"Hmm...first piece of flat land I've seen all day," said Matt, sarcastically.

"Why can't it ever be downhill?" moaned Kala.

Just then, Morph went sliding by on a bobsled...going uphill. "Whee!" he called.

Matt stared at this before saying in a shaking voice, "How...how did he do that...AND WHY IS HE HAVING FUN?"

Morph slid down over to Matt, spraying Matt with snow as he did so. "Cheer up," he said, "Maybe we'll meet the Abominable Snowman up here."

"Morph, how many times do we have to tell you that there are no such thing as yetis?" said Techo.

Matt however glared at Morph, "Why you LITTLE...!" before trying unsuccessfully to grab Morph and falling on his front. "I hate you so much at the moment," he said dully.

"Morph may not be wrong this time," said Jade, "I mean, we did meet a frozen prehistoric humanoid once."

"Coincidence," said Matt, in an annoyed voice as he got back up.

"Dwayne was frozen for thousands of years," said Jackie, "I don't think anything like him still exists today, particularly up here."

"Plus the yeti is mythical," said Matt, purposely ignoring Chloe's muttering of 'Like dragons?'

"Hurry up!" snapped Uncle, "The forces of darkness do not wait to gossip!"

…

Meanwhile, the forces of darkness, more specifically, Drago and Ghoulwyrm were trying to make their way up the mountain via the other side, Ghoulwyrm saying "...the forces of light do not wait to gossip!"

"Hey, I'm trying to keep myself motivated," said Drago, "Mountain climbing isn't exactly relaxing."

"Quit talking...it's all 'I'm a fire demon, not an ice demon' and 'I think I'm getting frostbite on my claws'. I'm perfectly fine," said Ghoulwyrm before fate chose that moment to have one of his frozen paws snap off. "...That didn't happen..." said Ghoulwyrm, putting it back on and ignoring Drago's smirk.

"Can't you just float up to the top?" asked Drago, "Sound like it would be easier for you."

"Normally, yes, but the cold's weakening several of my powers. I wouldn't want to be hanging over nothing if it gave out," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Yeah...that'd be a blow," muttered Drago to himself.

"Indeed, which is why I want to get summoning as soon as possible," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Fine...let's just get up there before the Chans do," said Drago in an annoyed voice.

…

On the other side of the mountain, things were not going really smooth either. "I'M GETTING FROSTBITE!" snapped Chloe.

Matt glared. "How do you think I feel? Everything is numb." he said.

Kala however, said, "I'm perfectly fine...nice and toasty," earning glares from Matt and Chloe.

Matt said evilly, "Coming from the fire dragoness..."

"You know, this looks like a good spot to yodel," said Morph before taking in a big breath.

Before he could get the first note out, Chris squeezed Morph's lips together. "No, no yodeling," he said. Morph made the motions to say 'Why?' Chris said, "Would you like 300 tons of ice in the face via avalanche?"

"Why'd we have to bring him along?" griped Chloe, "Any other experiment would have been better."

"Because Draco latched himself to the wall rather then come to the Himalayas...I don't blame him," said Matt, darkly.

"And Draco and Contrinus are a package deal, Chip wanted to do some sort of business reading, and NegaMorph wanted to spend time with Megan that didn't involve villainy," said Kala.

"Ok...if we see Ghoulwyrm...violence will ensue...I blame him for this," said Matt evilly.

"He's probably getting ready to let loose a demon now," said Jade, "But it's a good thing we're near the top, right?"

Matt's eye twitched and he started to giggle. Chloe sighed, "Wrong choice of words."

"No big deal," said Jade, "We just have to get up top and start kicking ninja butt." She climbed up the ledge and looked over. On the opposite side, Drago stuck his head over as well.

They both pointed and yelled "YOU!"

Matt peered over next and screamed some more threatening words. "DIE, DEMON BOY!" he screamed, throwing a plasma orb.

Uncle and Tohru came up next. "Ah, right on time," said Uncle, "Actually, looks early."

Matt however had thrown off his backpack, pulled out his ion blade and was running towards Drago with extended murder in mind.

"A little warm-up, eh?" said Drago, "I could use something to get the fire going."

Matt missed Drago and yelled, "I'm freezing cold...and have been forced to be a pack dragon...I AM NOT IN A GOOD MOOD!"

"Ah, has Matt got the sniffles?" teased Drago.

Matt glared before going crosseyed and sneezing a plasma ball into Drago. Drago was knocked backwards and sent tumbling a little too close to the edge. Matt wiped his nose and said, "Apparently so." Matt walked over to Drago who was balancing and said, "Mind the step," before making to prod him over the edge

Just then, a chattering/tinkling sound was heard and Ghoulwyrm came up over the edge, icicles hanging from nearly every part of him. "Why couldn't it have been a volcanic mountain?" he grumbled.

Matt looked at Ghoulwyrm before yelling "UNDEAD!" and aiming a slash, only to be blasted by Drago.

"Lynch, I am really not in the mood to fight," said Ghoulwyrm, "I'm virtually frozen through and my powers are on the blink. I just wanna summon the stupid demon and go somewhere warm."

Matt said, "No demon for you," and tried to attack again

Ghoulwyrm opened his mouth to breathe out fire, but the fireball that came out was only the size of Matt's fist.

Matt dodged it before laughing "Oh, this is rich...HEY UNCLE...YOU GOT ANYTHING TO BLAST ZOMBIE NEWT OVER HERE?"

"Uncle busy with banishing spell perparation," called Uncle, "Where are Shadowkhan?"

Matt nodded before grabbing Ghoulwyrm. "Yes...where are your little buddies?" he said.

"Hey, watch the frostbite," said Ghoulwyrm before a snapping sound was heard, "Never mind."

Matt readied a fist. "Talk or I smash you." he said, evilly.

"I don't run at full speed when it's cold, ok?" said Ghoulwyrm, "We only just got here, can't you guys wait about 10 minutes before you start attacking?"

Matt thought about this. "You know, I was gonna toss you over the edge, but I'm gonna go easy. I'm just gonna do this," he said before pulling off Ghoulwyrm's head.

Ghoulwyrm glared. "Thanks, I feel so much better," he said sarcastically

"You know, I'd make a real neat snowman out of you," said Matt.

Ghoulwyrm said darkly, "I know where your dream door is..." before Matt threw his head into a snow drift and turned to try and deal with Drago. He and Jade were fighting each other across the snow.

Ghoulwyrm glared from the snow drift he was in and called out, "Lynch, don't you dare..."

Matt grinned insanely at Ghoulwyrm before shoving the snow down Drago's shirt back. "PSYCHE!" he yelled insanely.

Ghoulwyrm winced and said, "That does it, I'm gonna have to drop him in a freezing pond now." A plasma ball burnt a trench in the snowdrift Ghoulwyrm was in. He said weakly "I can wait," he said with a nervous grin.

"Uncle needs Shadowkhan banishing ingredient today!" snapped Uncle.

Matt said, "What Shadowkhan?" looking around.

"I told you, I'm a little late getting here," snapped Ghoulwyrm, "I need time to prepare and such."

Chloe looked around as she strolled over to Ghoulwyrm. "Hmm...for once we're in time. I like this feeling," she said, looking at Ghoulwyrm. "But we can't leave you or..." she said, pausing and stepping aside to let Drago slam into the snowdrift next to Ghoulwyrm, adding "...dragon boy here alone to set up your demon welcome committee."

"Hey, there's an order that needs to be followed," said Ghoulwyrm, "You know, villains plots evil plan and acts it out, hero arrives to stop them, you can't go before us."

Chloe glared. "You know how heavy this is?" she said, pointing to her backpack.

"Uh, not really, no," said Ghoulwyrm.

Chloe glared before taking it off. "Find out," she said and dropped it on Ghoulwyrm.

Ghoulwyrm's voice said from underneath, "I see...your...point."

Just then, Jackie, Techo, and Chris reached the top of the plateau. "I...will kick butt...after a short break," said Chris while panting.

Drago glared at them "I've had enough of this trip. First I get the headless wonder...then psycho puts a snowball down my back!" he yelled before throwing a fireball at Chris who ducked it. The fireball hit the snow and went deep. Suddenly, cracks started to radiate out from the hole, the ground starting to tremble where the cracks were.

Everyone turned to glare at Drago. "Gee...way to go, gecko boy," said Chloe, icily

Drago shrugged and said, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," before firing more fireballs into the snow near the gang.

Matt looked at where the fireballs were going. "Oh no," he said weakly. A rumbling sound started as the snow became uneven and started to shift. Pretty soon, about one half of the plateau's snow was sliding towards the edge, bringing the gang with it. "I swear you're gonna suffer for this!" yelled Matt, trying to turn dragon to take off and failing.

Ghoulwyrm reattached his head and watched as the gang was swept down in the forming avalanche. "I...can't believe that's actually working for us," he said.

Drago said, "Yeah...I'm just as surprised."

"Do you think that'll incapacitate them long or are they going to come back up in a few minutes and kick our butts?" asked Ghoulwyrm.

"Unless they happen to land on a rescue team, they're toast," said Drago, smugly.

"As much as I'd like to go down there and make doubly sure, I think we should focus on our summoning and move to warmer climates," said Ghoulwyrm.

Drago shuddered as the wind blasted them. "Yeah...let's just get aunt Po Kong loose," he said.

"Right then," said Ghoulwyrm before spreading his arms and shouting, "Shadowkhan, arise!" Several small black shapes popped out of the snow, their only discernable feature being a bluish line across their faces

Drago peered at them and picked one up. "These shrimps are gonna get my aunt out of the underworld?" he said.

The Shadowkhan made a growling sound before the blue line opened up to reveal a mouth full of pointy teeth which bit down on Drago's finger. Drago yelped and shook his hand till it let go. "Feisty little thing, isn't it?" he said

Ghoulwyrm grinned and said, "Oh, I've done my research. These little guys have a lot more in common with your aunt than you think."

Drago shivered as the wind howled again. "Let's just get this over with," he said

"Right, but just to make sure," said Ghoulwyrm before waving a hand and summoning more Shadowkhan. "You lot, go down there and see if you can find any trace of those meddlers. When you find them, you know what to do."

The Khan all ran off down the hill at that. Drago peered down, feeling, just for a second, sorry for anyone the Khan ran into for some reason.

"Ok, let's get to work," said Ghoulwyrm, "This may take some, considering the amount of mass I need to bring through."

The Khan Ghoulwyrm had sent all appeared back at that, their leader making a chittering. Ghoulwyrm, who had been getting ready said, "What do you mean they aren't there?"

…

When Matt started to regain consciousness, the first sensation he experienced was that he was warm, comfortably warm. The next thing he felt was feeling like his body was one giant bruise. "Urgh...what hit me?" he said to the world in general

"An avalanche, a smaller avalanche, fortunately for you," said an unfamiliar voice.

Matt shot upright at that and looked around. "Who's there?" he said. He immediately winced as about a dozen aches shot through his ribcage.

"You mustn't move so fast," said the voice, "You need time to rest and recover." Matt turned his head to see a short Tibetan man standing near him. Judging by his bald head and orange robe, Matt assumed he was some kind of monk.

Matt looked around. "Where am I?" he said, looking around to see if anyone else was around.

"You are in the Heaven Mountain Temple of the Ben Shua order," said the monk, "You and your companions have taken quite a bit of punishment from the snow."

Matt nodded. "Erm...no offence but I don't see you carrying Tohru here. Who brought us here?" he asked.

"It most likely was the Guardian of the Peaks," said the monk, "He is a mysterious being, but he sometimes is generous to humans. You are fortunate you were traveling with a Celestial, otherwise he may not have felt so generous."

Matt thought about this. "Is he still around? I'd like to shake his hand," he said cheerfully, before wincing and adding, "Gently."

"The Guardian never stays longer than he needs to," said the monk, "As a matter of fact; he just left you by the temple and walked off. All there is to show he was there are his footprints."

Matt said, "Really?" and went over to the window to see several large footprints. "You're kidding...we were rescued by the yeti?" he said dully

"The Guardian's known by many names, a fair few coming from the West," said the monk.

Matt got a distant look. "Morph was right..." he said in a disbelieving and slightly terrified voice

"Morph? Do you refer to the carefree one?" asked the monk.

"If by that, you mean the mutant albino slime slug, then 'carefree' is putting it mildly," said Matt. The monk nodded. Matt said, "Ok...where is Kala?"

"You mean your soul mate?" asked the monk.

Matt glared and said, "Does Morph keep anything secret?"

"Oh no, he did not tell us," said the monk, "Your chi and hers resonates together like the ebb and flow of the sea. Truly, it is a match made in heaven."

Matt looked confused before saying, "Ooookay."

The monk nodded. "She said something similar when she asked about you," he said.

Matt cleared his throat and said, "My love life aside, how is she?"

The monk said, "You are the last one to awake. She is with your companions, having a meal."

Matt thought about this. "Sounds usual, Chloe usually yells at me about being last up," he said.

"Follow me," said the monk, leading Matt out the door. He made sure to walk slower so that the weakened Matt could keep up.

Matt was led into the main room where the rest of the gang was sitting, in various levels of bruises. Chloe rolled her eyes. "Last up as usual," she muttered.

"I fell from the top of a mountain, cut me a break," said Matt.

"We all did," said Chris.

"Well... You know what, I'm not debating until I have breakfast. Or lunch or dinner or whatever meal's appropriate for whatever time of the day it is," said Matt. Chloe sighed as Matt got some of the rice the others were eating. "Apparently the yeti saved us," he said conversationally

"Don't bring that up again, Morph won't stop gloating," said Techo.

Matt peered over to where Morph was and flicked his wrist, causing Morph to faceplant into his rice bowl.

"So how long have I been out?" asked Matt.

"About a day, apparently. I'm sure Jackie's uncle almost exploded when he found out," said Kala

Matt groaned and said, "Don't tell me that the demon of the week's terrorizing the countryside now."

"Uncle says it's not loose yet...but the day is young," said Chloe.

"Not loose yet? How can it not be loose?" asked Matt.

"Apparently mass is also a factor when it comes to demon summoning," said Techo.

Matt said, "Mass? You mean the demon's fat?...oh no." he said as his mind went over to the list of remaining demons.

"The chi-o-matic confirmed it," said Chris, "As if the terrain wasn't enough of a big hint."

"I told you we shoulda brought the gunship but NOOOO..." said Matt before doing an impression of Uncle, not noticing the real version passing behind him and saying, "Magic must defeat magic."

"That is right," said Uncle, causing Matt to almost have a heart attack.

Matt managed to recover his composure. "If we'd brought the gunship, we wouldn't have been on the avalanche express," he said.

"We've been over this, it won't be able to fly properly up here," said Techo.

Matt rolled his eyes. "This is silly. What can we do vs the Godzilla of the demon universe? Why couldn't it have been the flying shrimp?" he moaned.

"Well, she won't be able to move very fast," said Jackie, "Even if the ground were level."

Matt thought about this. "Good point," he said.

"On the other hand, she probably has a lot of mountain magic stored up to use against us," said Jade. "Say, what is mountain magic anyways?" asked Kala.

Matt thought about that. "Hmm...probably involves avalanches," he said.

"Well, when Tohru had the Mountain Demon chi, he ate nearly everything," said Jackie.

"Including most of my shop!" snapped Uncle.

"Well, we know which demon it is, no problem, right?" said Morph.

Uncle said, "Is big problem...Chloe had ingredients in her pack."

Chloe gulped, "And I left that at the top of the mountain."

Uncle smacked his forehead and yelled, "AI YA! We will have to go back and get it! And we must hurry before Po Kong and her minions devour every village they can find."

"Great...more climbing," said Matt.

Kala however said, "Erm...hate to point this out...but who will Po Kong taker as a apprentice?"

"Depends, is Drago likely to get any gifts from his aunt?" asked Chloe.

Matt thought about this. "If I remember how Shendu treated him...not a chance. That leaves...oh smeg," he said.

"Uh, the ability to eat anything's the only power that the Mountain Demon chi gave, right?" asked Kala.

"I hope so," said Matt, weakly.

"Uh, Tohru also grew up to Po Kong's height," said Jade.

"We're all gonna die!" wailed Matt

"Never say die!" said Morph.

"Ok...we're going to be EATEN!" said Matt, yelling the last part at Morph who said cheerfully "See? It's so much more positive when you don't say die." Matt just screamed with fury before making Morph's head implode into his body. The rest of the room watched as Matt jumped up and down on Morph until he had calmed down. "Ah...much better," he said, "Well...let go get that pack."

"My friend, you could stand to gain much from learning how to achieve inner peace," said one monk.

"We could help you to learn how to calm your inner anger," said another.

"I like my inner rage. It allows me to let off stress," said Matt before adding, "Anyway, this is hardly the worst thing that ever happened to him. Once I put him in a washing machine."

The monks muttered to themselves, obviously disturbed about Matt's violent tendencies.

Chloe walked over and said, "Don't worry...if you knew what his life was like, you'd realise this was a good day."

Soon after that, the gang had bundled up again and was heading out the door. The monks were waving them fairwell. However, when the gang was out of earshot, one of them said to the other, "The Western dragons are such a violent race."

"Yes, it's a small wonder they became extinct," said another.

Another of the monks said, "Did you see the young one's appearence? Do you think she knows what it means?"

"Yes, it would explain a great deal," said another, "But it is not our order who must deal with it. We must send word to our brothers in China immediately."

…

Meanwhile, back up the mountain,

As the gang trudged upwards, they noticed a change in the area. Not so much a physical change, but the feeling of the landscape had changed. For some reason, the mountains seemed...hungry.

Matt looked around. "Ok...I'm starting to feel like I'm being watched," he said in a worried voice.

"What, you think the yeti will want a tip?" said Chloe.

"No...I think that he might be hungry instead," said Matt, looking around.

"I think the air pressure is getting to you," said Chloe.

Matt said, "I am not a paranoid nutca...DEMON!" screaming and throwing a plasma orb at a shadow where he thought he saw movement. A snow bunny ran from the spot, squealing for its life.

"Ooh, such a clever disguise," said Chris mockingly, "I would have never guessed it for a yeti or a demon in that form."

Matt glared before saying, "Oh look...a demon on your head," igniting another plasma orb.

"Can you quarrel without attracting attention from anything on the mountain?" snapped Uncle.

"This is mercenary business," said Matt before grabbing Chris in a headlock and trying to dig a hole in a wall of stone with Chris's head...made difficult when Chris went feral and tried to bite Matt's arm off.

"Hey guys!" called Morph from a distance, "Check out this mondo-sized abominable snowman footprint I found!"

Matt yelled, "We already know that the yeti exists so get over it!"

"But it's a really big footprint!" called Morph.

"Morph, you don't need to keep saying it," said Jackie as he walked forward, "We don't see another foo-" Suddenly, he stumbled and fell down, a lot further than the others were expecting.

"Oh, you found another one," said Morph.

Matt and Chris stopped fighting at that and walked over with the others to the new footprint. "Ooook...that's big," said Chloe, weakly. The footprint Jackie had fallen was rather big, about 8 feet long with three toes.

Matt said in an equally weak voice, "Now we know where Godzilla goes skiing," before giggling aimlessly.

"Po Kong must be moving down towards where people live," said Tohru.

"I'd hate to be in that village," said Kala.

"No, she would head for the nearest city, some place large enough to quench her appetite." The others looked at him oddly. "Er, I mean, that's what I would do if I were her," said Tohru.

"In that case, she'll be heading down to Lhasa," said Jackie as he got back up, "There are at least a million people there."

"Plenty for Po Kong and her Shadowkhan to eat," said Jade.

"Until her next bowel movement," said Chloe.

"How big is Po Kong that 1 million people counts as one meal?" said Matt, in a worried voice.

"Uh, considering the size of her gut, I'd say that she'd have the city depopulized in... maybe a week tops," said Jade.

"Hmm...we can cut her off. Someone that big probably isn't speedy," said Matt.

"But we won't be able to banish her without the chi spell ingredients," said Uncle, "So we much get the pack first."

"Crap...where did we leave the damn thing again?" said Matt.

"Ooh, I know," said Morph before turning into Finder and taking to the air.

Matt watched as Morph-Finder flew off. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

Chloe said, "Cause you're an idiot who likes to blow things up."

"What was that?" asked Jade.

"Another experiment," said Kala, "Designed to be an expert tracker."

"You mean the guy I saw at the beach first day I was in Kauai?" said Matt.

"Yeah, he works in the lost and found," said Kala.

But while no one was noticing, a shadow was sneaking between the rocks behind them. The shadow went along before making the shape of a mouth and nibbling a bit of Matt's shadow before making a 'bleah' noise and heading for Chris instead.

Matt scratched himself and said, "It's too cold up here for mosquitos, right?"

Chris said, "Mosquitoes in the mountains? That's a first."

"Do not be talking so foolish," said Uncle.

"Something bit...my shadow...look," said Matt, pointing to a little bite section missing from his shadow. The others looked at his shadow, but the tiny section that had bitten and spat out had already rejoined it.

"Yep, the thin air is affecting your brain," said Chloe.

"But...but..." said Matt, in an upset voice.

"Did you say that something bit your shadow?" asked Uncle.

"Yes...something bit it...I saw a bite section missing," said Matt, gloomily.

"Dream on," said Chris before motion in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to see several thumb-sized black bumps looking at him. "Aw, who are these cute little guys?" he asked.

Everyone else turned to look. Uncle was first to react "AI YA...SHADOWKHAN!" he said, pointing.

"Oh, those little guys?" asked Techo, "What could they possibly do?"

The bumps all turned to look, revealing a blue 'v' shape on each one before all opening fang-filled mouthes. "Ooh, what are they gonna do, bite my toe off?" asked Chris.

The Khan immediately leapt forward...at Chris's shadow before apparently sucking it up. "SEE...SHADOW EATERS!" yelled Matt before throwing a plasma orb at them

"Whoa, I feel...dizzy..." said Chris before falling over.

Matt looked at Chris before at the Khan which had increased in size. "Right...GET EM!" he yelled before blasting one.

The Shadowkhan swarmed forward, each going for a shadow. The Khan however showed no interest in the dragons of the group, any Khan going for them turning to join a companion with the others.

"Keep them away from your shadows!" shouted Uncle before blasting at them.

Matt stamped on one while Kala flamethrowered another two. "Bloody little pixies!" yelled Matt. Suddenly, there was a small chomping sound and Matt grabbed his foot. "IT'S TRYING TO EAT MY TOES!" he yelled as he hopped around on one leg.

Chloe whacked it aside before going anthro dragon and electrocuting another few. Tohru was having the most trouble, seeing how he cast such a large shadow. The Khan however managed to chomp most of the shadows, getting larger with the more they ate.

Just then, Morph-Finder flew back, holding the backpack. "I'm back," he said as he landed in his original form, "And the cold's kept all the ingredients fresh too." He noted Chris asleep and said, "Is it naptime already?" The Khan all turned to see Morph and tried to eat his shadow before looking disgusted and spitting it out. "Tee hee, that tickles," said Morph.

Matt yelled, "MORPH...AS YOUR CAPTAIN, I ORDER YOU TO ATTACK THOSE THINGS!"

"But they're so cute and cuddly and I just wanna smother them with love and milk and cookies," said Morph, picking up several and hugging them. The Khan actually looked terrified at that, trying to get out his grip with yelping noises...with good reason as Matt lost his temper and fired a blst of plasma fire at them. Morph was left sitting in a small crater. "Ooh, nice and toasty," said Morph.

Matt glared as the other Khan ran, having done their job of disabling all of Matt's team, except for Kala and Morph and the Chans.

Morph looked at the battlefield and said, "Boy, I'm glad I don't have to clean this up."

Chloe was shaking Chris. "Wake up...wake up, you idiot," she said before looking at Uncle, "What did those little landsharks do to him?"

"They have eaten his shadow and with it, an important part of his chi," said Uncle, "Without it, he will remain in this wakeless slumber."

Matt said, "One test..." before poking Chloe in the neck as she was holding Chris, causing her to electrocute Cjris on reflex. "I learnt a few things in my year on Avalar," he said before looking worried as the usually effective alarm clock failed to work.

"Ooh, ooh, let me try," said Morph before grabbed Techo by the collar and slapping his face multiple times.

Matt managed to pull Morph away after a minute. "This isn't solving anything. Most of my team's out like a light...and any more marines will get the same treatment," he said.

"And Po Kong's got a whole army of those things heading for the city," said Kala.

"The Shadow Eaters will render the people helpless and let Po Kong pick them off with ease," said Jackie.

"Oh, great. No pressure," said Matt, sarcastically.

"Wait, why didn't they munch you guys' shadows?" asked Jade.

Chloe said, "Probably the same reason they didn't eat yours," pointing to Jade's intact shadow.

"I'm ok too," said Morph.

"More to my disappointment," muttered Matt.

Uncle said thoughtfully, "Shadowkhan must prefer human shadows over inhuman ones."

Matt said, "Good...first time nobody wanted to eat me."

"But Chris is a werewolf," said Chloe.

"His human side is more dominant," said Uncle, "Or maybe it's because it's also a mammal."

Matt said, "Great...that doesn't solve the 'how do we stop Lhasa getting their very own Godzilla?' problem."

"Of all the days for the experiments to not come along," said Kala.

"Hey, how about we fight giant with giant?" suggested Morph.

Matt said, "No...no giants. I know you wanna be the giant, Morph. Not after last time."

"Well, we have the other guys," said Morph.

Matt stopped as he suddenly realised and he said, "No...not a chance...I'm not having that bunch running around."

"Matt, who are you talking about?" asked Jackie.

"Yeah, who are you talking about?" asked Kala.

"What? You don't know?" asked Jackie.

"She wasn't there when we met them," said Matt in a sour tone.

Chloe also caught on. "I agree...the last thing we need are those walking wrecking balls around here," she said.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Jade.

"No one you'd want to meet," said Chloe.

"Right, we're just gonna head down the mountain and see if we can catch up with Ms. Heavyweight." Matt peered over the sheer cliff edge of the mountain ledge they were on. "I think I see her," he said, pointing down.

The others gathered to look. There was a lot of mist down there, but they could see something large and green moving down the mountainside.

"Biiig…" said Matt in a distant voice.

"You sure I shouldn't make the call?" asked Morph.

"No, we can handle this," said Matt, "We have the pack, we can banish them. What immortal item and Japanese ingredient do we need?"

"Fortunately, is very simple," said Uncle, "A drum and Japanese fish."

Tohru moaned and said, "I hate fish."

Matt stopped before looking around before saying, "Ok...so where will we get the fish? We're in the DAMN MOUNTAINS!" visibly snapping.

Uncle waved his blowfish in Matt's face and said, "Where you think Uncle got this? Moose World?"

Matt glared. "Move the fish..." he said in a low voice.

Chloe however stepped in and said, "Look...save it for the fatso demon."

…

Meanwhile, Ghoulwyrm and Drago were following behind Po Kong, who was rather easy to keep up with.

"I'm telling you, I should be the one to get chi abilities," said Ghoulwyrm

"Like you'd get any good use out of them," said Drago, "I'm the one with experience."

"Please...even your own father wouldn't give you chi powers," said Ghoulwyrm, smirking

"Oh, as if you were a better choice," said Drago.

"I sometimes win," said Ghoulwyrm smugly

"I had the whole world in my palm," said Drago.

"Right, just before you got kicked off of it," said Ghoulwyrm.

Po Kong stopped at that and said, "Are you talking about dinner?"

Ghoulwyrm and Drago glanced at each other. "Nothing even close to that," said Drago.

Ghoulwyrm said smoothly, "We were just discussing who would have the honor of being your apprentice."

"Oh, is that all?" said Po Kong with great disinterest.

Ghoulwyrm and Drago watched as Po Kong turned away. "Wow...that is one laid back demon sorcerer," said Ghoulwyrm

"I think she's more interested in eating than conquest," said Drago.

"Huh, so much for an apprentice, she'd probably eat them," said Ghoulwyrm scathingly.

Po Kong growled with annoyance and said, "If you two must make such a fuss over who's to be my apprentice, than let's make a contest out of it. Whoever brings me the tastiest thing to eat wins."

Ghoulwyrm grinned evilly at Drago before using a little-used food spell held memorized once from boredom. "I knew this would be useful one day," he said as Drago muttered about cheating.

Ghoulwyrm lifted the dish high and said, "A tasty delicacy from your soon-to-be apprentice."

Po Kong peered at the dish of food before picking it up and swallowing it, dish, food and all in one mouthful. "It will pass," said Po Kong before peering down at Drago, "And your offering?"

Drago glared at Ghoulwyrm but was unable to answer.

Ghoulwyrm smirked and said, "He is obviously not suitable."

"That settles it," said Po Kong, pointing at Ghoulwyrm, "You are my new apprentice."

Ghoulwyrm punched the air. "Yes, finally, wait a minute…" he said as he realized what physical effect demon chi had.

Drago walked away. "I'm gonna give you some space," he said, "You're gonna need it."

Ghoulwyrm said gloomily, "This is exactly how my afterlife is: even when I win, I lose."

"Quit griping and stand still," said Po Kong as dark energy started coming out of her hand.

Ghoulwyrm gulped and whimpered, "Mummy," before the blast hit.

…

Meanwhile, the journey back down the mountain was not as easy for the gang seeing as how they had to carry Chris and Techo.

"This is nuts...the sooner this is fixed, the better," said Matt, using his dragon form to carry Chris.

"I heard about this kind of thing in a documentary," said Kala, "We have three days to wake them up before they die of dehydration."

"Let's just crush fatso and go home," said Chloe in an annoyed voice.

"Will you guys keep it down? I'm trying to listen," said Jade who was fiddling with a radio.

Matt dropped Chris on the ground and said, "What are you listening for?" peering over her shoulder at the radio.

"Duh, any news that could relate to Po Kong and her Shadowkhan," said Jade.

Matt said, "You can speak Tibetan?"

"Uh, no," said Jade.

"Neither do I," said Matt.

"Let me," said Morph, grabbing the radio and holding it up to his ear, or rather the side of his head where his ear should be.

Matt and Jade watched patiently before Matt finally said "Well?"

Morph was quiet before saying, "Uh, there's an advertisement for yak yogurt." Matt just stared before gently putting his front paw on Morph before pressing down. Morph said in a muffled voice, "I sense you aren't happy at the moment."

"Morph, tell me something useful, or I will make a popsicle out of you," said Matt.

Morph said, "Erm...your claws need a trim? I have a really good...ok, not that," as Matt began to growl like a chainsaw.

Suddenly, Morph shouted, "Wait! A news flash! Many people in Lhasa are falling into comas. Authorities are suspecting some kind of plague. A large area of the city has been quarantined."

Matt lifted his paw up and peeled Morph off before noticing the flattened radio. "How are you picking that up?" he said.

Morph said, "I swallowed most of the radio when you crunched me."

"It must be the Shadowkhan," said Jackie, "That must mean that Po Kong is getting closer to the city."

Matt sighed, "We'll never get there on time at this rate," before noticing Morph, "I never thought I said this, but we may need to use...Morph's plan," he said.

"Matt, you know what that would mean, right?" asked Chloe.

"Yes, I know, but something needs to slow them down," said Matt before Jackie said "It's probably the best thing" before being confused by Matt's next statement, "I just hope we have enough oil aboard."

Morph said, "Ok, I'll make the call now, and arrange for a pickup."

"Remind them that collateral damage is not on the books till Sue's on the ship again," said Matt.

"Got it," said Morph.

Jackie said, "Ok...what is Morph's plan?"

Matt sighed and said, "You met Dune Runner...right?"

"You mean your dune buggy?" asked Jackie.

"Yes, these are more of them," said Matt.

"More dune buggies?" asked Jade.

"Actually, construction vehicles," said Matt

"Why would you guys have construction vehicles?" asked Jade.

"They're more...associates..." said Matt.

The Chans still looked confused, but Kala was starting to understand. "You don't mean..." she started.

"We'll introduce you to them later," said Chloe.

"Let's just hope it's enough," said Matt.

…

As the gang reached the city limits, Matt had been busy conversing with someone on his communicator. However, the Chans couldn't quite understand what exactly Matt was talking about from his end.

"No, you just stop the big green thing from getting into the city. No, you do not have salvage rights on any oil you find," said Matt.

There was a pause before Matt, "I could so find better qualified people to do this. They're just unavailable today. What's that? Well, I suppose there would be a lot of repairing to be done afterwards. How much are you charging? That much? This is Tiber, not China. Yes, there is a difference. That's just plain robbery."

Matt turned to look at Jackie and Jade before saying, "Ok, you can use abandoned buildings as weapons, but only after you check that they are empty."

"What's Matt doing?" asked Jackie.

"Haggling," said Chloe.

Jade said, "Who are you haggling with?"

Matt said, "You don't want to know...you'll find out."

…

Meanwhile, the gang had followed Po Kong's trail to the outskirts of Lhasa. People were slumped on walls are lying in the street where Shadowhan had ambushed them, a mix of police and civilians. "Ok...least we know we're close," said Matt, blasting a Khan.

"So how do we take Po Kong down without us being sent to dream land?" asked Chloe as she blasted another.

"By not casting a shadow," said Uncle.

"Oh, that'll be easy, I'll just ask for an eclipse," said Matt

"Given the size of Po Kong, that shouldn't be too hard to ask for," said Kala.

"We just need to find chubbo then," said Matt before noticing a ripple in a puddle. "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?" said Matt before a series of thuds was heard. The group turned as a shadow appeared on a far building. "Uh oh...biiig trouble," said Matt, shifting down to anthro form

However, as everyone got into a battle stance, they were thrown off by what came around the corner. For a second, Matt thought it was a mutant brachiosaurus. The being was very large and wearing bulky armor. The bandages on its now-shorter arms were straining to keep the purplish flesh in. His neck was now shorter and was a lot thicker. However, the head remained largely the same.

"Oh lord," said Matt in a tired voice, covering his eyes, "It's Ghoulmoron."

"Wow, he really let himself go," said Chloe.

"Dinko de fabba," said Morph, jiggling his belly for emphasis.

Ghoulwyrm turned slowly to look at them. "Fresh food," he said in a deep voice, his eyes glowing red.

"Uh, why is he looking at us like a platter of chicken nuggets?" asked Matt.

"Because I think he's hungry," said Chloe.

"But he's a blooddrinker, right?" asked Matt.

Ghoulwyrm opened his mouth to lick his lips. "I think he's expanding his tastes," said Chloe in a small voice.

"Right, well, we've all seen enough giant monster movies to know what we should do now," said Matt.

Chloe said, "Matt...this isn't going to..." before Matt sent a hail of plasma bolts at Ghoulwyrm. However, the bolts just bounced off his armor and his hide. Ghoulwyrm just growled before lumbering towards them.

"Uh oh," said Matt in a small voice

"I now present option B," said Kala.

"What's that?" asked Morph.

"RUN!" yelled Kala before running the opposite way.

"I coulda thought of that," said Morph.

Chloe grabbed Techo and Chrus in her dragon form while Matt grabbed Morph as Demonic Ghoulwyrm roared and gave slow chase. The gang ran for a bit before they realized Ghoulwyrm wasn't keeping up with them so easily. Apparently, he lost his power to levitate and was force to walk towards them and not at a very fast speed.

Matt and co stopped after a few yards. "Somehow...he's not as threatening as he seems," said Matt.

"Don't let his slowness fool you," said Uncle, "He is still very deadly."

Matt said, "Please, he's moving marginally faster then a rock. What can he..." Just then, a bandage snaked out from Ghoulwyrm's arm and ensnared Matt. Matt said, "Of course...I've been wrong before," before Ghoulwyrm flailed him around into the various building fronts.

The gang winced as Matt was used like a wrecking ball. "Uh, maybe we should get out of range before he tries to tenderize us," said Jade. Jackie nodded as Matt was thrown over their heads to land in a dumpster. The gang quickly ran towards the dumpster while Ghoulwyrm roared and tried to follow them as fast as he could.

Matt was pulling free and said, "Ok...he's a tad more dangerous...and...he's eating the street?"

Ghoulwyrm was ripping out large chunks of the pavement and crunching them in his mouth. "Huh, he must by hungrier than he looks," said Chloe.

"And he looked really hungry to begin with," said Jade.

Ghoulwyrm, his cheeks bulging, turned to look at them before spitting a hail of lethal gravel in thir direction. "Take cover!" shouted Jackie as everyone threw themselves out of the way. A good thing too as a large amount of a building was pulverized by the stone projectiles.

"Ok...so he's now a walking machinegun," said Matt, sarcastically, throwing a plasma blast round the corner blindly. The plasma burst apparently had hit because the next thing that landed was a large rock covered in purple flames.

"This is starting to suck," said Matt before looking round the corner to see Ghoulwyrm was in front of a condemned apartment building. "Don't be angry," he said before firing a cluster of rounds into the building, sending it toppling onto Ghoulwyrm.

The large dragon roared with surprise as several tons of concrete, wood, plaster, and metal collapsed onto him. "I don't think that's gonna hold him long," said Kala.

"Long enough for us to be somewhere else when he does get out," said Chloe.

"Right, like the other side of the city," said Matt.

Uncle snorted. "Nonscence...Uncle can deal with overgrown necromancer," he said, pulling out his dried lizard.

"Normally, I'd be saying 'have at him'. But I think he's way outside your weight class now," said Matt. Uncle turned to glare only for Kala and Matt to grab him under his arms and run for it.

"Uh, I think we have another problem," said Jackie as several fattened Shadowkhan rose up ahead.

The group stopped as more rose up around them.

To make matters worse, Ghoulwyrm had managed to get his head loose. "Ok...that hurt," he said in a deeper than usual voice.

Jade gulped and said, "We're in trouble."

"Never give up," said Morph before jumping at a Shadowkhan, only to be swallowed by it. The others looked nervous until Morph's voice was heard from the Khan, "It's really dark in here."

Matt yelled, "Morph...you remember how I threatened to put you in the food mixer if you ever used your combat experiment forms? That rule is temporarily recinded."

"Oh boy, oh boy," said Morph's voice excitedly. Suddenly, the Shadowkhan that swallowed him started glowing red from the inside before being blown apart, showing Morph in Heat's form.

All Matt's crewmates that were awake turned to glare. "Ok...maybe I made a screw up here," said Matt before the Khan's...well, explosion took out it and the two standing next to it. However, several more Khans were appearing from the shadows, gnashing their teeth.

Ghoulwyrm said, "Looks like I win...for once. I think I'll eat the celestial first." Ghoulwyrm reached for Jade, only to have his palm burned by a white fireball. Ghoulwyrm glared, sucking his hand before saying, "I'm not that hungry. Khans? Rip em apart."

The Shadowkhan growled before suddenly the sound of a horn honking 'La Cucaracha' was heard. The Shadowkhan turned around only to be blinded by headlights and then ran over. The gang managed to scatter though and Matt turned to see what it was. "Dune? Is that you?"

The red dune buggy skidded to a halt, flattening more Shadowkhan as it did so. "Reportin' for duty, mon," it said.

"Good, time to leave," said Matt, tossing Uncle into the passenger seat where the safety belt grabbed him.

"Uh, I don't think we're all gonna fit," said Chloe, eying Tohru.

Matt dodged another Shadowkhan lunge and said, "Can we please just deal with Ghoulwyrm?"

"Stand aside," said Dune Runner as several panels on his railing flipped out, revealing blasters.

Ghoulwyrm pulled himself out of the last of the rubble and said, "Oh please, you think your peashooter can harm me now?"

"Don't need ta harm ya, just need ta clear a path," said Dune Runner before firing into a building wall.

Ghoulwyrm looked as the building creaked. "Oh, not again," he said before it fell on him with a crash.

"Quick before he gets back up," said Dune Runner.

Matt turned dragon form and grabbed Tohru, Chloe eventually taking pity and helping.

Dune Runner drove after them with the rest of the gang. "Dis is porbably gonna be a bumpy ride," said Dune Runner.

After a few minutes, the group stopped. "Ok...so Ghoulwyrm's supercharged to the point that I cannot blow him up anymore," said Matt

Kala patted Matt's back and said, "You can blow him away once we shrink him back down to size."

"I look forward to that," said Matt, happily.

Chloe said, "Ok, simple to do, we take out his new boss and problem solved."

"Uh, seeing how big Ghoulwyrm has gotten, I don't think beating his boss is gonna be any easier," said Dune Runner.

Uncle said, "ENOUGH...WHY IS BEACH CAR TALKING?"

"Uh, that's a bit of a long story," said Matt.

Uncle said, "Uncle wants to know why beach buggy is prosessed."

"I am not possessed," said Dune Runner, "I'm a robot."

Uncle glared, "Uncle knows spirit when Uncle hears one, like fax machine at shop."

Chloe put her face in her palm. "Smegging technophobe," she grumbled.

"Take it from us, he's a damn robot," said Matt in an annoyed voice.

"I can speak for meself you know," said Dune Runner suddenly the seats under the gang lifted up, forming into arms that put on the ground. Then the rest of Dune Runner transformed into robot mode and stood up.

Uncle stared and Matt and Jade both started a mental count before Uncle yelled, "DEMON!"

"3 seconds," said Matt.

Dune Runner turned around and asked, "Demon? Where?"

"Not a demon...ROBOT!" yelled Matt

"Uncle, since when have demons ever been made out of metal?" asked Jade, tapping her knuckles against Dune Runner's leg to prove a point.

Uncle glared suspeciously before saying, "Uncle has his eyes on you."

Chloe rolled her eyes and said, "Ok, superstitious technophobia aside, can we get down to business?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, we have to find a way to deal with jumbo Ghoulwyrm and his giant boss," he said.

"Not to mention how to avoid getting sent to Sleepyland by their Mini Khan horde," said Kala.

Dune Runner winced and said, "Would ya mind not callin' them 'Mini Khan'?"

"Why's that?" asked Kala.

"I don't know," said Dune Runner, "It just sounds too close to home for some reason."

"Ok...just beware the giant shadow eating monsters of doom...how's that?" said Matt.

"I t'ink 'Leech Khan' will suffice," said Dune Runner.

"Whatever, they need squashing, how did you beat them last time?" said Matt

"We had to unmask Hak Fu," said Jackie, "The shadows they have eaten can only be returned if their master is no longer able to control them and they'll be banished back to where they came from."

"So...we have to beat this mountain demon at half strength...with a mountain moron helping him," said Chloe

"We have the drum and the...fish..." said Tohru, shuddering with the last word.

"Yes we do, but that might not be enough," said Uncle, "If Po Kong has not been tired sufficiently, she may resist the banishing spell."

"Let me guess, you want us to fight her till she's nice and tired," said Matt in a gloomy voice.

"Fortunately, you're not alone with this one," said Dune Runner.

"Thanks, but even you're not big enough," said Jackie.

"Ah, but I have bigger friends," said Dune.

"He does, I was speaking to them earlier," said Matt.

"Where are they, anyways?" asked Jade.

"I was comin' ta meet with ya guys so I could ya to dem, but de big wyrm kinda distracted me," said Dune.

"Ok, lead the way," said Chloe.

...

About 20 minutes later, Dune Runner had driven the gang to a construction site. The workers had either fled when the Shadowkhan attacked or had been left sleeping.

Jackie looked ariund and said "Where are they?" before looking at an excavator.

Dune Runner rolled forward a bit before calling out, "Hey, barkeep, a couple of barrels of oil around for me and me friends!"

The others were looking at Dune Runner with confusion when a voice with a clearly Brooklyn accent called, "What kinda oil ya want?"

"Smooth, warm, and freshly processed from de crude stuff!" called Dune Runner.

Jackie looked confused before the excavatir he was looking at suddenly started up and started changing, along with the other construction vehicles.

The group jumped back as they were suddenly surrounded by large robot, each at least 30 feet tall. Except for the sixth one, which had been a forklift and was stomping over to them. "Seriously? Ya had to give us a passcode?" he snapped, "We're construction workers, not secret agents."

Matt said, "Oh shut up before I sing. I'm the one in charge of your...payment."

Of the Chan clan, only Jade was the least shocked about the construction robots. "Wow, cool," she said.

Uncle however wasn't in the mood, yelling "MORE METAL DEMONS!" and firing a blast from his dried lizard at the steamroller bot's knee.

"OW!" cried the robot before clutching his knee and hopping on the other foot. Of course, given his great mass, it shook almost everyone else off their feet.

"Uncle, stop shooting the help!" said Matt, bouncing off the ground in rythm with the steamroller bot's hops

"Hey, knock it off already," said the forklift bot, smacking the steamroller's side.

The steamroller stopped hopping, but he grumbled, "Crazy old coot."

Uncle glared as he heard that. "What did robot demon say? Does he want a piece of Uncle?"

"Right, quick introduction time," said Matt, "These are the Chans; Jackie, Jade, and their Uncle, and also their friend, Tohru. Chans and Tohru, these are the Constructicons."

"Scrapper, excavations," said the excavator bot.

"Mixmaster, materials fabrication," said the cement truck/bulldozer bot.

"Long Haul, materials transport," said the dump truck/payloader bot.

"Hightower, surgical engineer," said the cherrypicker bot.

"Rollout, enforcer," said the steamroller bot.

"And I'm da boss, Dirt Boss," said the forklift bot.

"No, you're just the foreman," said Matt, "I'm the boss here."

"Uncle does not like these shapeshifting creatures," said Uncle.

"Enough with the science vs. magic," said Chloe, "We've got a pair of mountain-sized demons and their shadow-eating army to stop, remember?"

The Constructicons looked at her before saying, "Nobody mentioned fighting monsters. We're not going to..." before Matt said "The oil's quad star quality."

There was a bit of consideration before Scrapper said, "Say, uh, won't be in danger of getting our shadows eaten or something?"

"You're giant robots. If they try it, step on them," said Matt, finally losing his temper.

"What do these things look like again?" asked Mixmaster.

Matt said, "Well..." before going wide eyed and pointing to where several of the fully powered Khan came into view. "LIKE THAT!" he yelled

The Constructicons looked at the Shadowkhan. "Man, and I thought that Spittor guy looked ugly," said Hightower.

"JUST CRUSH THEM!" yelled Matt, throwing a plasma orb at one. Mixmaster shrugged before shooting blobs of cement at them.

Chloe ducked down to say, "I wonder where Drago is..."

Just then, a kick to her back sent her flying forward. When she looked back, she saw Draco standing there. "You guys got out of the mountains after all. Not bad for tenderfoots," said Drago before spitting fire at her feet.

Chloe rolled to the side. "Are you bit annoyed that you didn't get the job again?" she taunted.

"I wasn't really too attached to the Mountain Demon chi," said Drago, "All it mostly does is just make you big and hungry. Anyways, it's at least funny to see Ghoulwyrm so overweight."

Chloe was about to disagree to annoy Drago when she realised thsat for once, he was right. It was quite funny. However she wasn't about to let him know that so she sent a few lightning bolts his way.

Drago leapt out of the way and said, "You know, I'd really try to cremate you guys, but I think Aunt Po and her new apprentice are looking for a particularly taste treat. So I'll just roast nice and juicy."

Chloe shrugged before blasting a water tank next to Drago before sending a bolt into the newly formed puddle.

Draco was knocked over by the electrocution, but he was far from down. He was about to get back up when Rollout picked him up by the tail. "What the slag is this guy?" he asked, "Some distant relative of yours or something?"

Chloe said, "He's a jerk standing between you and your oil."

"What? This shrimp?" asked Rollout.

Drago glared and yelled, "Put me down, you hunk of second rate iron!" before sending a fireball into Rollout's hand.

Rollout cried out in pain before glaring at Drago. "Tha'st it, you are so out of here," said Rollout. He drew his arm back, like he was pitching a baseball, and hurled Drago up and over sereral buildings.

"Nice shot," said Matt, turning away from a Khan for a second. However, said Shadowkhan had grown to a large enough size that it chomped on Matt, leaving his legs sticking out of its mouth. The Khan just had what could only be called a 'lets see you get me now' smug expression. However, the Khan's grin soon vanished when a large hole was blasted out of its back. Matt fell out said hole and said, "It...was horrible in there."

"What did it smell like?" asked Dune Runner before blasting another Khan.

"Smartcan," said Matt in an annoyed voice before finishing off the Khan he'd escaped from.

Long Haul was trying to get a bunch of them when one suddenly materialized and knocked him onto his back. Long Haul said, "Ok...this is not funny," as he tried to get back up again. The Shadowkhan opened the mouths wide and chomped down on Long Haul's shadow. However, something seemed wrong as they couldn't appear to get a proper grip on his shadow.

Long Haul finally managed to get up and kicked one of the Khan into the distance, Matt noting it made a worryingly spiderbot-like 'wheee' as it vanished. "Hey guys!" called Long Haul, "They can't eat our shadows!"

"Which means they can't harm us," said Scrapper before activating his hand drills.

The Khan seemed to get the same conclusion and began to back off from the Cybertronians to go for the others instead.

"Oh no, you don't," said Hightower before grabbing two with his cherrypicker arms and throw them into another bunch.

Uncle was simply standing calmly, blasting Khan as they went for him. Matt watched with Chloe before muttering, "Show off," his sister nodding.

However, a bunch of the smaller ones had gotten all over Tohru. "Ah! Ah! Get them off!" he yelled.

Matt turned and said, "Chloe, do the honors."

Chloe cracked her knuckles and readied a fist covered with arc lightning. "Ok...stay still," she said before sending a spider web of lightning bolts out to hit the Khan. The Leech Khan squealed before jumping off of Tohru. However, Tohru looked rather dizzy. This wasn't too surprising when you saw that his shadow looked Swiss cheese.

Chloe and Matt winced at that as the Shadowkhan fled from the Constructicons with yelping noises. "That's gotta hurt," said Matt

"Now that was fun," said Hightower as he dusted off his hands.

"Almost as good as bowling night," said Rollout.

"Wait...what do you bowl with?" said Matt, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Ah, a couple of girders, some planks, Mix makes the balls," said Scrapper.

Chloe said, "Look, this doesn't help. We have two jumbo demons to find. It's not like they're just gonna come to us," before she saw some ripples in a puddle.

Matt turned and gave Rollout an annoyed look. "Knock it off, will ya?" he said.

"Knock what off?" asked Rollout before a distand thud was heard.

The group slowly turned before several Chinese tanks rumbled into view.

"Oh good, the army's here," said Jackie.

"Yeah, and who do you think they're liable to shoot at?" said Chloe.

A trooper stopped as the tanks went by. "You...civilans must clear this...area..." he said, s-lowly trailing off as he saw the Constructicons and Jade. Luckily none of his companions were paying attentuon so didn't notice as Kala, Matt, and Chloe dogpiled the trooper before he could scream for help.

"We'll explain later," said Matt, gagging the glaring trooper.

"Guys, vehicle mode," said Dune Runner. He and the Constructicons quickly transformed to vehicle mode. Jade then climbed into Long Haul's cab.

Matt looked at the trooper. "You're not gonna hold this against us, are you?" he said, before taking the gag out as he heard mumbling. The trooper started yelling in Chinese in a very angry way. Matt looked at Chloe and asked, "Does that sound rude to you?"

Chloe nodded before grabbing the trooper, shoving the gag back in and throwing him into one of the construction sites portapotties, locking the door. "He'll be fine...I think," she said before getting into the cab of one of the Constructicons with Matt.

"Matt looked as the last tank vanihed before saying, "Follow those tanks, they can probably lead us to Ghoulwyrm and his new boss."

"Right," said Chloe before looking at the controls. "Uh...can you drive a cement truck?" she asked.

Matt knocked on the dashboard before yelling, "First one there gets 2 extra barrels of oil."

Almost immediately, the sound of squealing rubber was heard as the six construction vehicles started racing after the tanks. However, Dirt Boss wasn't quite able to go as fast as the others. "Hey! Wait for me, ya morons!" shouted the forklift.

Matt put his feet up on the dashboard and said smugly, "Who says I don't know how to inspire?" before the sound of tank fire up ahead was heard. Matt got his comm out and said, "Dune...put Uncle on," before saying, "Erm...any chance those T-99's will have done the job for us by thee time we get there?"

"Modern weapons cannot harm demons," said Uncle, "They may as well be firing popcorn."

On cue, one of the T-99's, its cannon bent almost to a right angle flew across the intersection ahead, several troopers running after and past it, some stopping to pull the dazed tank crew free. "I believe you," said Matt, worriedly.

"So, uh, what are we supposed to do against this thing?" asked Mixmaster.

"Uncle says the demon needs softening up. You're it," said Matt, before adding, "No negotiations."

"I don't think we got an accurate size description," said Mixmaster.

"No choice in the matter. Do it or you'll face something much worse...me and the spiderbots," said Matt.

"Ok, ok," said Mixmaster, "But you ain't just gonna sit there and let us do all the work, are ya?"

"Of course not...we'll be crrushing Drago like the cockroach he is," said Chloe, jumping out the cab and round the corner where the rest of the Chinese responce force, made of 2 tanks and a handful of infantry were firing on Po Kong and Ghoulwyrm. Several troopers were already out cold from the Shadowkhan.

Ghoulwyrm had gotten even larger, almost equal to his mistress in size and girth. His tendrils and tentacles were reaching down and grabbing anything before shoving them into his mouth. Luckily none of the troopers had been stupid enough to get close enough for that. One of the tanks however was despatched as Ghoulwyrm brought both fists down on its front.

"Yeah, good luck with fighting the big guys," said Matt, backing up a bit until he bumped into something slightly squishy. He looked up to see a Shadow Eater about 10 feet tall grinning down at him. Matt stared for a second before screaming and running for it at an impressive speed. The Leech Khan roared before chasing after him. "YOU DON'T WANT TO EAT ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE I'VE BEEN!" screamed Matt

Matt ran between Mixmaster's legs. Mixmaster looked down and said, "Hey, watch where you're going!" before the Shadowkhan bumped into him.

Matt stopped and turned to see Mixmaster had started a fight with the Shadowkhan. "Ah...thank God," he said before the third tank landed in front of him. He turned slowly to see Ghoulwyrm looking at him like he was the last cake in the shop. "Uh, I take back all the ugly jokes I've made about you, and that includes the ones behind your back," said Matt.

Ghoulwyrm roared at that and charged at Matt who started running again. "WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?" yelled Matt as he ran.

Po Kong however had spotted Uncle. "The chi wizard," she said to herself.

Uncle was mixing up the ingredients for the banishing spell. "Tohru, where have you put drum?" asked Uncle.

Tohru looked through the bag of ingredients and pulledout a small drum. "It is here sensai." he said, passing it over.

Uncle looked at the drum before looking at Po Kong and Ghoulwyrm. "Uncle hope this drum is big enough," he said.

Chloe blasted a Khan aside before yelling, "Whatever you're going to do...DO IT!"

Just then, Matt ran by with Ghoulwyrm hot on his trail. "Did I mention that I had a lot of garlic for dinner?" shouted Matt. Matt tripped up suddenly and looked back to see Ghoulwyrm bearing down. "Oh smeg," he said before Kala, in dragon form, swooped down and snatched him up and out of reach.

"Did you forget you could just go dragon?" she asked with a toothy smirk.

"Uh, well, I had a lot on my mind," said Matt in a sulky voice.

Kala smirked. "It's ok, I missed you too," she said.

Suddenly, something black and white wrapped itself around her tail. Kala yelped as she was suddenly dragged backwards, the inertia throwing Matt out of her grasp. Matt turned dragon and turned around in time to see Kala being dragged by Ghoulwyrm's tongue into his mouth. Matt saw red at that before sending a blast of plasma fire down Ghoulwyrm's throat. Ghoulwyrm roared in pain before letting go of Kala.

"Ah, I wanted to do that," said Kala.

Matt flew up next to her before saying, "Couples should always do things together," before they both sent a second salvo at Ghoulwyrm.

Ghoulwyrm roared again as he was forced to swallow another spicy burst. Then Chloe flew up in dragon form. "Don't tell me you started roasting Ghoulwyrm without me," she said.

Ghoulwyrm said, "Oh no," before all three fired at him.

Suddenly, a giant green hand grabbed all three of them, squeezing them so tight it cut off their breath attacks with a squeak. Then they were lifted up to an equally large face. "What kind of tasty morsels do we have here?" said Po Kong.

"Oh hell," said Chloe.

"I've never seen this kind of dragon before," said Po Kong, "I wonder if you taste good?"

Kala glared and said, "We're not for eating, we cook instead," before all three tried to blast Po Kong. After a minute of blasting, they stopped to see they had caused nothing.

"Wow, what thick skin you have," said Matt.

Po Kong grinned before opening her mouth to swallow the dragons in one gulp.

However, a small volley of plasma blasts went into her mouth instead. Dune Runner flew up on his hoverboard and said, "Ya can't have a meal like that without a little appetizer." He fired at her face again.

Po Kong tossed the trio of dragons aside to swipe at Dune Runner who just dodged the attack.

The three dragons landed at a heap near Dirt Boss. "She's a big one, isn't she?" said Dirt Boss.

Matt, his voice muffled from being at the bottom of the pile said, "Less smartass, more kick ass."

"So how do you expect us to tire her out?" asked Dirt Boss.

Matt got his head out and said, "You know that thing your team could do that I strictly forbid you to do?"

Dirrt boss said, "Yes..." in a suspicious voice.

Matt sighed before saying, "I cannot believe I am saying this...you have permisison to use devestator on big and ugly over there...SO DO IT!"

"Sorry, can't do it," said Dirt Boss.

"Why not?" growled Matt.

"Ya need to sign this form," said Dirt Boss handing him a paper.

Matt looked at the form and said, "Ok...who's dumbass idea was this?" and winced as Chloe said with a smirk "It was yours." Matt glared before saying, "Dirt Boss...do it or I'll pull out your CPU and do this to it," before incinerating the form to ash.

"Good enough for me," said Dirt Boss before yelling, "Constructicons, assemble!"

Matt pulled himself out of the pile. "This should be fun," he said.

The other five Constructicons hurried over to them. Once they were all together, Dirt Boss called out, "Constructicons, unite!" The six of them started changing shape rapidly and piling up. Mixmaster and Long Haul lifted them up as they formed into legs while Scrapper and Hightower got on top of Rollout and became arms. Then Dirt Boss installed himself on top and expanded out into the head.

Matt watched as Devestator picked up one of the tank wrecks and threw it at Po Kong, missing and wrecking a building. "I feel I have made a tragic error in judgement," said Matt sagely.

"Hey ugly!" shouted Devastator, "This town ain't big enough for the two of us!"

Po Kong laughed at that. "No technology can harm a demon sorcerer. I will crush you with ease!" she said.

"The only way you can crush me is by sitting on me," taunted Devastator.

Po Kong said, "As you wish," before jumping up and landing on Devestator.

The two green giants started falling backwards, back towards where Matt, Kala, and Chloe were standing. "Erm...we should move," said Kala.

Matt however said, "Come on...these guys are professional figh..." before Devestator's left foot landed on him with a wince-worthy crunching noise.

"Uh, how much damage can Matt take?" asked Kala in a worried tone.

"I'm...docking...his...pay...ow…" said a weak voice from under the foot.

Chloe gave a sigh of relief and said, "If he's still able to threat, he'll be just fine."

"Get...him...off...me...losing...feeling...in...bones..." said Matt's voice.

Fortunately, Devastator's leg lifted soon after that as he and Po Kong started to really fight. Matt was in an imprint in the concrete, his eyes pointing in opposite directions. "I feel...pain...are we winning, maaa?" he said in a dizzy voice.

Chloe and Kala looked where Devastator was fighting Po Kong, only Ghoulwyrm and some extra large Shadowkhan were starting to gang up on him. "It's mostly a draw at the moment," said Kala in a distant voice before yelping as several Shadowkhan turned to look in their direction.

"Those things do only eat shadows, right?" said Chloe.

"I don't wanna find out." said Kala, throwing a fireball at one of them, only for the Khan to swallow it, unharmed.

"Oh no," said Chloe weakly.

"I hope Devastator can wear down Po Kong soon," said Kala.

Drago staggered into range before seeing Kala and Chloe. "You…" he said. He was not in a good mood. Po Kong and Ghoulyrm were not the only ones to have been visited by the Chinese army and being shot at by a tank had not helped his temperment.

"As if we didn't have enough to worry about already," said Chloe.

Drago glared. "I've had it with you," he said angrily, throwing a fireball at them.

Kala raised up a hand and the fireball stopped in midair. "The feeling's mutual," said Kala before hurling it back at him.

Drago yelped and was forced to do a move worthy of limbo to avoid his own shot. "You little..." he said angrily before a lightning bolt hit him in the face. Drago snarled before saying, "Ok, chivalry be damned, I'm taking both you bimbos down." He then charged at Kala.

Chloe jumped to the side and saw Matt's dazed look vanish as Drago's words. Drago had grabbed kala and was about to claw her when a blue-scaled clawed hand grabbed his wrist. Matt lifted Drago up to his face. "What did you say about my girl?" he growled.

Drago struggled before what Matt had said hit home, as well as Matt's psycho murderer glare. "Erm..." he said before Matt threw him into a wall.

The two girls watch as Matt then tackled Drago through the wall and the sound of heavy punching was heard. "That was nice of him to defend your honor, but how comes he didn't try to defend mine?" said Chloe.

"Because you'll take it out on Drago as soon as Matt's finished," said Kala.

Chloe shrugged. "Point to you, let's see how he's doing," she said, walking over with Kala to the hole to see Matt banging Drago's head on the wall.

"Matt doesn't use a large variety of hand-to-hand combat moves, does he?" said Kala.

Chloe said, "Well...he gets results," as Matt finally tossed Drago across the room.

"Out of curiosity, how much damage will Matt inflict on Drago before he's satisfied?" asked Kala.

Chloe said, "I dunno. I don't think he'll stop."

Matt, meanwhile, was advancing on Drago and aimed a swipe, only to be judo flipped. "Ok...forgot he could do that," he said.

"Right, does Matt know any kind of martial art or does he just barrel through?" asked Kala.

The duo winced as Drago finished breaking Matt's momentum with a judo kick to the chest. "Barreling," said Chloe, "You know, I'm just tempted to find a snack, kick back, and watch them go at it."

"Yeah, but I think we can find something else to occupy our time," said Kala, noticing several Shadowkhan forming up.

Matt got up dizzily as Drago walked up. "Ok...are we a bit annoyed about being passed over for promotion again?" he said, igniting a plasma orb

"Partially that, but I'm mostly sick of seeing your face," said Drago as he got a fireball ready.

"The feeling's mutual. You're a disgrae to dragons everywhere," said Matt, before throwing his orb at Drago.

Drago ducked the blast and said, "Me the disgrace? I had the entire world in my hand." He threw the fireball at Matt.

Matt dodged this. "I heard about that. Didn't hold onto it for long, did ya?" he taunted.

"No, Dad had to be a prick and join up with Chan to overthrow me," growled Drago before blasting with more fire.

"Oh dear, family trouble?" said Matt in his most annoying voice, his eyes on a girder over Drago.

"Oh, like you haven't had issues with your father," said Drago.

"Not really...unless you count how he once tossed me in the sea when we were at the beach," said Matt, before throwing a blast at the girder over Drago.

Drago spat a burst of flame up at the plasma orb, detonating it before it reached the girder. "As if I didn't see that coming," said Drago, "You really need to get some new material."

Matt backed up as lines of dust began to fall from the ceiling over Drago, where the blast had occured. spiderweb of cracks were already appearing. "Huh, takes a rare kind of incompotence to cause a counterattack to backfire," said Matt.

Drago looked confused at that. "What are you talking a..." he began before the ceiling gave out and buried him.

"Well, that was entertaining," said Matt, "Kinda wish I had thought of that." He was stepping over the pile when Drago's fist smashed out and grabbed his ankle, tripping him forward. "Ok, probably should have seen that coming," said Matt.

Drago pulled his head and upper torso free, looking furious. "You're dead meat."

"You'd be surprised how many times I've been called that," said Matt.

"How many times has it been followed up on?" said Drago, angrily.

Matt said, "Quite a few close calls to be honest."

With a snarl, Drago tossed Matt out into the open street. Matt ended up against the wall on the other side of the street. He got up just in time as the struggling Devastator and Po Kong demolished where he had been. "That was close," he said before half of a tank wreck landed next to him. Matt turned slowly to see Ghoulwyrm, before turning back to see Drago advancing from the other direction.

"Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place," said Matt before pausing and calling out, "Hey Drago, were those just sparks you were throwing, or is that as bright as you can get?"

Drago glared before igniting a fireball as Matt finally got to him. "I'LL SHOW YOU SPARKS!" he roared, throwing the fireballs at Matt who dodged them, the fireballs continuing on their merry way into Ghoulwyrm.

Ghoulwyrm was irritated by the burns the fireballs left. He glared downwards to find the culprit. Matt pointed at Drago who was already readying another round of fireballs. Ghoulwyrm growled before shooting a sonic howl up the streeth, obliterating the pavement as it went.

Matt just managed to get out the way as the blast careened into Drago, sending him down the street along with it. "Hmm...so this is what it feels like to have a plan work," he said to himself as Ghoulwyrm plodded down the street in Drago's direction.

Kala and Chloe ran up to Matt. "Are you okay?" asked Kala.

"Fine...we'd better go help Jackie and the others," said Matt.

The three of them found Uncle working on his spell. "How much longer till it's portal time?" asked Matt.

Just then, the drum started glowing green. "All done," said Uncle.

"Good, drum solo time," said Matt, before Dirt Boss, who had been knocked off Devastator landed behind the group with a crash. "NOW PLEASE!" yelled Matt in a slight panic.

"The Immortal Symbol will not work if the demon is out of range," said Uncle.

"Ok...who's going to be bait then? Who is most likely to get the giant demon's attention?" said Chloe before eyes slowly moved towards Jackie.

"Uh, what about Morph?" asked Jackie, "He's not contributed too much to this fight."

Matt said, darkly, "Morph is...preoccupied."

...

A closet not so far away...

Morph, tied up with ion cabling looked around. "He'll be back with the donuts soon..." he said to himself.

...

"...very preoccupied...hehehehe," said Matt, rubbing his hands together with a dark little chuckle.

"Good luck with the big demon," said Kala, patting Jackie on the back.

Po Kong finally blasted the rest of Devastator to the ground, scattering him back into his component Constructicons, and said, "Useless machine..." before looking around as Jackie was pushed into view. "Chan," she said darkly.

Jackie quickly beat the drum three times, but nothing happened. "Do you have wax blocking your ears?" snapped Uncle, "You must get closer to the demon for the spell to work."

Po Kong noticed the drum. "Not again," she said, pulling a chunk of masonary off a building and throwing it.

Jackie dodged the masonry and said, "How am I supposed to get close enough without being smashed?"

Dune Runner blasted a second chuck of wall out the air and landed next to Jackie. "Need a ride, mon?"

Matt called out, "Welcome to my world...this is a good day."

Dune Runner shifted to vehicle mode and said, "We don't want to stay in one spot for too long."

A piece of masonary smashed down next to them, proving the point and Dune immediately hit the acelerator so to speak. Po Kong immediaely roared angrily as Dune shot past her.

"Just how close do we need ta be?" asked Dune Runner as he drove around rubble.

"Pretty close," said Jackie as Dune circled the furious demon sorcerer.

"I can make out the crevices in her skin, is dat close enough?" asked Dune.

Jackie yelped as Po Kong tried to snatch up Dune Runner. "Close enough," he said, hitting the drum

As soon as the drum rang for the third time, a ripple seemed to go through the air. Suddenly, a demon door appeared behind Po Kong and a strong wind started pulling everything towards the door. Po Kong roared angrily as the vortex sucked her towards the demon door. At the same time, Ghoulwyrm, about to chomp Drago, went crosseyed and began to shrink as the demon chi was sucked out.

The Contructicons, thanks to their large mass, weren't being pulled in, so they served as stable anchors for those who were considerably lighter. "YOU DIDN'T MENTION THAT THIS DUMB PORTAL SUCKED IN EVERYTHING!" yelled Matt, using his hybrid form to hand onto a wall via his claws.

"She's a very large demon, how else would it send her back?" shouted Uncle as he held onto Tohru.

"I do hate you...you realise that!" retorted a furious Matt.

Matt's inconvenience was paltry compared to Dune Runner's, who was so close to the portal that he had to floor it to keep from being sucked in. "Buckle your seatbelt, mon!" he shouted to Jackie.

Jackie did so before Dune Runner gave it full power, finally getting out the vortex, just in time as Po Kong finally fell into the portal, a stream of demon chi following her through.

As soon as the demon portal closed, the Leech Khan all disappeared, the ones that had eaten shadows dispersing into thousands of black whisps that flew through the city.

Chris was the first of the down team to awaken. "Oh, my head...wait...where are we? What happened to the mountain?"

"I'll fill you in later," said Chloe, "First I want to see if there's anything left of Drago to give a piece of my mind to."

On the subject of Drago, Ghoulwyrm had just come to his senses to see a furious Drago. "What happened? Did the chi not work?" he said dizzily.

"Oh, it worked just fine," said Drago, cracking his knuckles, "But I better check if there's any left." Ghoulwyrm took a step back before Drago started pummeling him

Just then, Chloe came around the corner. "Hey Drago," she started before stopping when she saw what was going on. She watched for a minute before shrugging and walking back. "He's occupied," said Chloe.

Matt looked around at the ruined street, "Man...this is the worst yet. I feel sorry for whoever's on cleanup."

"That'd be us," said Dirt Boss, "Which means we're gonna need someone to speak to the mayor about our repair fees. And while we're on the topic, we gotta the payment for us nearly getting our gears stripped by Queen Po Kong."

Matt stopped at that. "Oh crapski," he said gloomily

"Let's see, there's the enemy type tax, injury fee, supply usesage, and the bonus of us having to combine. Which should bring us to about...this," said Dirt Boss before handing Matt a piece of paper.

Matt looked at the bill and made a whimpering noise.

Dirt Boss looked over Matt's shoulder and said, "Whoops, misplaced that decimal point." He put the dot a little to the left.

Matt looked at the now smaller ammount. It was still insanely large...but nowhere near as bad. "Ok...I can live with this," he whimpered.

"Ok then, you go talk with the mayor for us," said Dirt Boss before shouting, "Boys, oil break!"

Matt settled for falling over at that. Chloe sighed. "...and that's why we were reluctant to bring these lot in," she said

Dune Runner had droven over by that. "Just be thankful ya didn't call for de Dinobots," he said.

"The Dinowho?" asked Jade.

Matt shot upright at that, "NO...YOU'LL NEVER MEET THEM...NEVER, I SAY! So it doesn't matter...ok?" before falling back again.

"Well, at least there's only demon left that Ghoulwyrm can unleash now," said Jade.

"He had better not show up any time soon," grumbled Kala.

"Well, at least it wasn't an international incident," said Chloe. Suddenly, the group heard muffled shouts coming from a shaking portapotty.

"Erm...almost..." said Kala before she and Chloe walked towards where ther 'prisoner' was.

The two girls opened the door to see the Chinese soldier glaring at them. He started shouting muffled Chinese threats and insults through his gag. Chloe closed the door and turned to Matt, "Hey Matt, can I borrow that mind wipe glove?"

---

And finally another update. I'm sorry for the long delay, but I've been caught up with several things. Not the least of them is writer's block. But the update will hopefully be more frequent now.

Anyways, onto the chapter analysis. Of course Po Kong was going to end up summoned in the mountains. I briefly considered Mt. Fuji, but then decided to go for the tallest mountain range in the world. Her Shadowkhan minions were a bit hard to choose. But there was already a process of elimination going on. And I decided the Leech Khans would be best since they share the same insatiable appetite. I felt that Ghoulwyrm deserved a little bit of a break so he became the apprentice. Though probably not the apprenticeship most would choose.

And also there's the featured Transformers, who mainly appeared in my last story. Dune Runner is my original creation as well as half of the Constructicons. The other half are from Transformers Animated. I know it's a bit odd having Transformers here, particularly Constructicons acting as good guys. But I feel this Constructicons are different from the classic ones. Besides, who wouldn't want to see Devastator fight Po Kong? By the way, in case you were wondering about Dune Runner's reaction to the term 'Mini Khan', it's because it's phonetically similar to something involving another Dune Runner. If you were a TF fan, you'd know what I mean.

Anyways, now there's only demon left to summon? Will he be next? Maybe not. In fact, I would expect some filler, but very important, chapters to come. So stick around and please review.