OMG how long has it been since my last update now? On this story, anyways. It's been about… a week and a half? Two? That just sucks, totally and completely. I'm betraying all of you, aren't I? WAAAAHHHH! I'm sorry, it's just that like all writers I get writer's block and I just couldn't think of anything for Xiaolin School. I'm so sorry, guys. (bursts into tears)

I'm going to get over this emotional crap and get on with the story.

Irritable Fact: Did you know that I actually completely forgot about the battle and actually wrote a lot about the classroom again only to find that I forgot about the battle because I didn't update for so long and had to rewrite? I was furious.

There's more about Kim than Rai, sorry about that. It took me so long, that's why.

--

Screams echoed across the building throughout the darkness and the horrible noise of breaking objects. A panicked voice said through the loudspeaker, "Evacuate the building immediately! Repeat: Evacuate the building immediately! We are, uh, experiencing technical difficulties. BYE!"

"We can't fight them, not without any light and stuff," Raimundo protested, trying to get Kimiko to release her grip. Her hand was firm and it stayed on Raimundo's arm.

"I can take care of that," Kimiko said, smiling. She was about to perform a move when suddenly there was a voice behind her.

"No, I can take care of that," said the voice of Azva, sounding unusually rough. "Remember me? My element's light. And I'm not the only one here. Omi and Clay are right here with me. We can handle a bunch of idiots like Keith and Tara any day."

""Idiots? Idiots?" Tara shrieked hysterically. "How dare you call me an idiot, you loser of a girl with parents that think they're all OMG evil!"

"I'll call you idiot whenever I want to," Azva said coolly. "Elemental Blast-Light!"

Suddenly, a large light flashed out, its source seemingly Azva's arm. It was not like the blinding radiance of the sun, or some great light, but it seemed to be even brighter than the sun because all of the others' eyes had become so accustomed to the darkness that Keith had pressed on them. Even Azva had to avert her eyes, but when their eyes grew used to the light that Azva was still working hard to maintain, all five of them saw that Keith looked outraged that his element was stopped by Azva, who happened to be his previous archnemesis.

"Damn it," Keith said, his eyes flashing. "What kind of fight is this? A five-on-two-showdown-between-five-trained-warriors-and-two-new-warriors? That is crap. That isn't fair. You guys are stupid."

"I agree," Omi said faintly, although he looked as if he didn't agree at all.

"What?" Clay said. "You agree with Keith?"

"Well, no," Omi said sheepishly. "But he is right. The battle must only be two-on-two, otherwise this wouldn't be fair. It's an official showdown, see? Who should fight? We need two people whose elements work against those two."

"I'm in. And Rai could probably move stuff with wind to prevent Tara's element from really doing anything, so I think it's me and Rai," Kimiko said, winking at Rai, who smiled back at her.

Before Kimiko could move, Tara snuck up to her and whammed her on the head with her fist, which was positioned just above Kimiko's face.

"Owww…" Kimiko moaned in agony. She fell to the floor, squirming to get up as suddenly Tara kicked her in the back. Kimiko cursed under her breath and gave Tara a glare that Tara couldn't see through the darkness.

"Serves you right, you Japanese freak," Tara said with a mocking tone in her girly voice. Kimiko lay on the floor in pain from both assaults from Tara. If anyone had seen her face at that moment, if the darkness had lifted for even a second, they would have seen a strange mixture of raging anger and agony. It was a look that would have made any sensible person turn and run. But nobody could see it, and Tara continued mocking Kimiko. "It looks like you're already down."

"Then I guess you're wrong!" Kimiko said, her last syllable filled with loud fury. "Judo Lette Flip-FIRE!"

Out of her arms came a brilliant flame, searing at Tara. Tara's mouth let out an O of surprise as the fire came towards her. But she recovered quickly because of her martial arts training, and used her purple energy ball to extinguish the flames.

"I guess it's me against you, Rai against Keith, right?" Kimiko asked. All around her was fire, and it lit the dark room so that Tara could see the grimace on her face.

"Shut up," Tara said, not looking at her.

"Hyah!" Kimiko shouted, kicking Tara unexpectedly with high speed right in the stomach. Tara fell to her knees and Kimiko smiled smugly. "So now you know how it feels, don't you?"

"Yeah," Tara said quietly. "I think I do."

Then she kicked Kimiko back, causing Kimiko to lose her balance. Kimiko gave an angry cry and fell. Then she crawled and punched Tara in the face with determination to take down her opponent.

Tara looked at her with an evil face, ramming into her with her entire body. Kimiko gasped for air as Tara seized her throat and held it there. Kimiko couldn't breath, and she felt her face getting warm and the air rushing out of her… she struggled to get Tara's hand off of her throat, but Tara's hand was too strong. After all, Tara was about 3 inches taller than Kimiko and a much bigger person. Kimiko couldn't call a fire attack, and she felt helpless in Tara's clutches. She coughed and gagged, feeling as if she had no hope left to defeat Tara. Her breath was running shorter…and shorter… she felt a drifting sensation even through the pain. Was she going to die here?

Summoning all her strength, she moved the fire over and aimed it at Tara, who was still busy grabbing Kimiko. Kimiko managed a weak smile, and then Tara saw the fire that was approaching her. "What?"

Tara leaped out of the way, and Kimiko struggled to free herself. She tried a new attack, an attack that she had never tried before but had heard of in one of Master Fung's scrolls. It was a very complex move, at a level around Wudai Warrior, although it was not the main attack for that level. "Element Inferno!"

A ring appeared around her, containing orbs that all had the same Chinese character- the word for fire. A fire spurted around the ring, and she concentrated on aiming it at Tara. If Tara died… Kimiko had never murdered another person, and she never intended to. But she could at least stop Tara.

Kimiko suddenly looked past her own ring, at Tara. Tara was concentrating on the exact same move! Only she was using her element. It looked as if fire and destruction were about to see which of them was really the strongest.

--

Raimundo and Keith had agreed to move to a different room. Raimundo hoped that Kimiko was doing all right, and he whispered silently for her to hang in there. He would come for her and save her if she were in danger. But Kimiko was one tough and stubborn girl, and he knew that she was strong enough to take care of herself. She even got mad when he got too protective of her. It was amusing, but he liked that about her. She was different, and she could fight. He hated the kind of prissy girls who sat around all day and did nothing except look into a mirror.

"Thinking about Kimiko?" Keith asked in a snorting voice. Raimundo gasped in surprise. How did Keith know? Had he read his mind?

"Yeah, I can tell, Rai," Keith said, his voice mocking. Raimundo looked outraged.

"Oh, shut up, Keith," Raimundo said angrily. "And what about you? Thinking about Tara, that nasty blond punk girl that thinks she's so cool?"

"For your information, I hate her," Keith said, his temper flaring.

"Then why'd ya go with her to the dance, idiot?" Raimundo asked, happy that he was getting on Keith's nerves.

"Because," Keith said. "She frikkin' bugged me into doin' it."

"And maybe you secretly wanted to, too," Raimundo said obnoxiously.

"Aw, shut up. Are we here to fight or talk about girlfriends, you loser?" Keith said.

"You wanna start fighting? Fine. Typhoon Boom-Wind!" Raimundo yelled as his attack went straight at Keith.

"What the-?" Keith responded quickly enough to deflect Raimundo's attack, sending it right back at him with a black beam.

"Sword of the Storm!" Raimundo yelled, taking out a Shen Gong Wu that he had hidden in his backpack in case he needed to use it to fight. The sword created a breeze that vanquished the beam.

What happened next surprised Raimundo greatly. Keith took out a black sword that looked exactly like the Sword of the Storm, but it had a mark on it. A vertical black dash that was just a bit curved-the mark of Heylin was embroidered on the sword. Keith smiled, seeing the look of shock on Raimundo's pale face, and spoke. "Surprised? This is the Heylin creation of the Sword of the Storm, created by the same swordsmith that forged your sword, who gave it to Chu, a rising dark warrior after Dashi's time. So that means that our swords are equal. It depends on the warrior who wields it."

"It's not the weapon that counts, but the warrior holding the weapon," Raimundo said, remembering Omi's words the day that Master Monk Guan defeated Chase Young.

Raimundo held his sword up, as Keith did also. Then both of them charged at each other with full speed.

--

I'm finally done. This took forever, sheesh. But I hope you liked it, even though you waited forever for it.