Chapter 15: Chasing Tomorrow

Although they fought to their bodies' and skills' limits, Raimundo and Chase conversed between punches and blocks in playful voices: with each assault, the warriors would question each other or taunt their abilities.

"Come now, Raimundo," Chase said as he slid across the ground after the Brazilian's foot swung into the beast's face, "I know you can put up a better fight than this…"

"It's a shame this is the best the infamous Chase Young can do," Raimundo replied in his old pompous self. With a low growl, his opponent slammed his tail into the monks stomach, launching him a few yards away. After his body stopped skidding against the earth, Rai rolled quickly to the left, avoiding the razor-edged claws on Chase's feet that crashed and buried themselves into the ground after a diving kick.

Spectating their battle were Clay and Omi, safeguarding the 'Conversion Clay' in case Chase's army of jungle cats should choose to emerge into the open.

Kimiko, on the other hand, was battling Omi's martial arts idol, Master Monk Guan. When she tried to assist Raimundo in his battle against the human-gator, the brawny monk intervened and flung her to the side. The Japanese girl had little time to ponder why Guan had stepped in before he began a barrage of strikes she struggled to avoid.

Raimundo, back on his feet, resumed flailing his fists at the Heylin dragon, but couldn't help asking for an explanation. "Why is Master Monk Guan helping you? What did you do to him?"

"So naïve. In 1500 years, do you honestly believe that Guan never challenged me to a duel at the risk of his own soul like you did for Omi? But unlike you, he failed in his rescue mission and survived the centuries as a beast under my command."

Appalled by this dark truth, Raimundo paused for a moment before Chase beat him once more into the ground. The Wind Dragon's anger rose simultaneously as the monk, and inquired, "But we met Master Monk Guan before we met you! He talked to us; He fought YOU! How could he have been enslaved by you?"

"All part of the plan. Guan was a puppet and a spy to determine which of you four monks would be the greatest ally and which one would be the greatest threat…"

Their battle waged on, but so did the dissection of Guan's past.

"You said Guan battled for someone's soul like we did." Raimundo reminded him. "Whose soul was it?"

"Mine," Chase replied, his voice serious and indifferent. He continued to explain while Raimundo's feet shot at his body like bullets, "Like he told you once, I sold my sold my soul for a potion: for the Lao Mei Long Soup from Hannibal Roy Bean, to be exact. The piece taken from me was the light side of my soul, leaving the latent evil in my heart to be brought out by the Soup.

"Guan was determined that might good half was still bound to this world, so he challenged Hannibal to a duel for it. As I was under the guidance of that feeble plant at the time, I was selected to battle with Guan in his place. And, apparently, dear old Guan lost the fight…"

There was a hint of remorse in the beast's voice, but Raimundo failed to notice it due to the fact he was outrunning Chase's firebreath.

Chase monitored Kimiko fighting Master Monk Guan with great effort and asked from Raimundo, "The Heylin side tore two brothers apart, so what chance does your teenage romance stand?"

"Enough to take you down!" Rai roared, burrowing his fist into Chase's eye.

Omi was torn to pieces by Young's revelations, but Clay scratched his chin, sorting through the information in his head.

"Hold it," he told Omi, "if Guan could officially duel for Chase's soul that means it still tied to this earth. And if it's still here…"

Omi snapped out from his sudden gloom. "…then we can call it out with the 'Voice of Tao Tsueng'!" He called out to the Dragon of the Wind, "Raimundo, you must use the 'Voice of Tao Tsueng'!"

"I'll rip you to pieces before you can activate that Shen Gong Wu." Chase growled to him, standing above Raimundo, who was kneeling on the ground trying to catch his breath.

If I use my element, I'm going to be stepping way past my body's boundaries…Raimundo thought to himself. Screw it…

"Xiaolin Soul Wind!" he roared, summoning a great gust that swept the villain into the air and depositing him a great distance away. The teenage monk flew the 'Voice' to Omi like a Frisbee before collapsing to the ground due to energy exhaustion.

"'Voice of Tao Tsueng'!" Omi cried out. A beam of green light jetted from the other half of the world and pierced through Chase Young's reptilian hide. With the two halves of his soul reunited, Chase Young's body expelled the curse of the Lao Mei Long Soup, returning back to a human state. 1500 years time caught up with him, and in seconds, Chase aged into a pile of dust. Kimiko watched as her opponent disintegrated into nothing, meaning that all traces and minions of the Heylin warrior we forever wiped from the face of the earth.

"Raimundo!" Kimiko cried, running over to her boyfriend's side. She knelt down and rested Raimundo in her arms, tears slowly rolling down her face.

"Hey, beautiful," Rai said, his eyes barely open and his voice even less of a whisper, "glad to see you're safe. I, on the other hand, got the living stuffing knocked out of me, but remember…I'll always…love…you…"

And his eyes closed as his voice faded away. Kimiko broke down and tried shaking him awake, but her attempts to resurrect him were futile.

"Rai?" she asked, her tears streaming down her face, "RAI? RAI!"

"Yeah?", asked the boy she held in her arms, his eyes still closed but a smile covering his face.

"You're a jerk, Rai." She told him, but her voice was filled with more relief than her face was covered in tears.

And with a kiss, they healed each other of their physical pains, with Omi and Clay smiling in the background, still holding Chase's destroyer and Wuya's new home.

They didn't find the secret from the 'Fountain of Hui' and the 'Eagle Scope', but the war between good and evil finally came to an end…