Chapter 20: Darkness Strikes

Special thanks to meme12345bunny, Sundragon27, Sunshine5643, and SS. Mahana for reviewing. Now on with the next addition of (see title of story)

It's funny, I originally planned for Tim to return near the end of the story and have Shang and Jack rescue Mai right before 6 attacked instead, but I just missed having Tim in my story so I thought 'what the hey, I'll bring him back now'.

Disclaimer: If I owned Xiaolin Showdown, then there would be so much more powers for the monks and new enemies and best of all, an anime opening. By the way, has anyone ever wondered how the show would have been like as an anime?

Tim turned around and walked over to Mai who was still in shock over his sudden return. He knelt down beside her and put his hand on hers. "Are you hurt?"

"Is...is that really you?" Mai still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Tim nodded and picked Mai up from the ground, holding her bridal style, making her blush. 'This feeling. It is him.' Mai thought to herself, but she was quickly broken from her thoughts by the sight of 6 standing right behind the two. "He's back!" 6 raised his spear and thrust down on them, but Tim quickly disappeared with Mai.

"Where'd you go! Come out and fight!" 6 shouted. He began to swing his weapon around, hitting anything in his way. "Nobody runs away from me and lives!" He continued his rampage, trying to find the two guardians.

"You will be safe here, Mai." Tim said as he reappeared on top of the cliffs, holding Mai. He set her down and turned towards the edge of the cliff. "Please stay here. I do not want you to get hurt." He said to her. All Mai could do was watch as he jumped down towards the enraged Heylin.

"It's him. I can't believe it." She said, her voice barley above a whisper. She raised the necklace up and smiled as it glowed brighter.

"How much farther is it?" Jack whined. Shang growled and muttered to himself the same question.

"Jack, if you keep on whining, I'm going to-" He stopped mid-sentence as he felt a strange presence. "This power. Why does it seem so familiar?"

"How should I know?" Jack replied, trying to catch his breath. "Can we take a break? My feet hurt." Shang was about to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of more Heylin soldiers approaching them.

"Spicer, go find someplace to hide." Shang ordered as he pulled out his weapon, readying himself for the fight. Jack nodded and quickly ran over to a nearby house to hide in. "Here they come." Shang charged at the enemy and jumped into the group, cutting each one down with his sword.

6 continued to destroy the little houses until Tim appeared behind him and landed a swift kick from behind. "Why you!" 6 performed a 360 spin, swinging his weapon, but missed as Tim disappeared into the shadows. He quickly emerged from the ground under 6 and hit him with an uppercut to the chest. 6 staggered back for a bit. He looked up and grinned as he saw his opponent. "Hmph. I thought master killed you...no matter. I'll just kill you again then." He drove his spear into the ground, causing metal spikes to shoot out from the ground.

"Shadow Shield." A small dome, made by the shadows, covered Tim, protecting him from the attack. He winced as he used his powers. 'I must not use my powers too much' He thought. "Shadow Spear." A long spear materialized in his hands and he threw the weapon at 6. He went down to one knee, panting after throwing the spear. The spear penetrated the Heylin Guard's stomach and went completely through his body.

"That was good." 6 chuckled. "But it's gonna take a lot more than that to kill-" Suddenly, 6 was hit a barrage of kicks on several specific areas of his body. He coughed up a little blood and was down on one knee. "H-how?"

"I know about the weak points on your body. There are several and they are masked by your symbols." Tim explained. "Now I shall end this. Shadow-" Tim stopped and disappeared into the shadows as several kunai almost hit him.

"7! I thought I told you I didn't need any help!" 6 shouted.

"Didn't look like you didn't need any help from where I was." 7 giggled. Tim emerged from the shadows at a safe distance from the two warriors. 7 caught a glimpse of him and smiled. "And who might this cutie be?"

"Hey! You stay away from him!" Mai shouted from the cliffs, but quickly threw her hands over her mouth after realizing what she did. Tim turned around and Mai quickly hid herself. He sighed and shook his head.

"Oh. I see how it is." 7 said and was at the top of the cliff in the blink of an eye.

"Mai!" Tim turned around and saw 7 holding a dagger to Mai's neck.

"Don't make a move or I'll slit her throat." Just as Tim was about to speak, 6 got a hold of him and slammed him into the ground.

"Finally. Now I can kill you." 6 said as he stomped on the guardian. He picked up his spear and held it over Tim. "See ya!"

"Tim!" Mai shouted. 7 struck Mai in the back of the head to knock her out and threw her to the ground.

"Mai." Tim's eyes were covered in darkness and an unknown force knocked 6 and 7 into a nearby mountain. He stood, clutching his head. "No. Not now...Mai." He jumped over to Mai and picked her up. Then he felt a strange disturbance coming from the sky and looked up. "The spell."

"There gone Jack. You can come out now." Shang said, pulling his sword out from the chest of one of the Heylin soldiers. He walked over to the ruins of the small house Jack was in and found the goth boy whimpering. "How does Master Chase put up with you? Get up." After helping Jack up, the two proceeded towards Mai's area. "It seems that Dashi and Feng's spell worked."

"How do you know?" Shang sighed and pointed to a large group of Heylin soldiers as they were being destroyed by the spell. "Oh."

"Come. We have to see if Mai is all right." Before the two could find her, Tim appeared in front of them, holding Mai's unconscious body. Jack screamed and yelled out 'ghost', pointing to Tim.

"Shang." Tim said, glaring at his rival.

"Tim. I thought you died."

"Like I said earlier, he's a ghost!" Jack screamed.

"I was revived, Shang. But we should not worry about that for now." He looked at Mai. "We have to get her back to the temple. She needs medical attention. I shall explain everything there." Shang nodded and chanted a spell, opening a portal to the temple.

Not my best chapter, but hey what's a guy to do? Anyway, the next chapter will be during the beginning of the whole 'everyone splitting up' deal. Which means that it'll be during Feng's preparations for the spell. I just wanted to get past this country first before I move onto the next countries. Anyway, review.

XSrules95