Chapter 11

Rai stepped toward Wuya, who tried to attack him, only to find him unfazed by any of her attempts. With each step he made, she backed away.

Wuya continued to back off until she hit the wall behind her.

"You're weak Wuya, you were once strong, but you spent so long relying on others you don't even know how to fight anymore." Raimundo said, "Hundreds of years locked in a box, then you trick Jack into doing you dirty work, then you dump him to use Katnappé. Luckily for her, she was smarter than that and ditched you once she got what she wanted, so you go crawling back to Jack. Then you abandon him again to use your little soldier of death made up out of old Shen Gong Wu. That goes downhill. You go back to Jack, but even he won't touch you now; so you take advantage of someone who feels like an outcast. Like no one needs them anymore. You're pathetic; you can't even look after yourself. You use others, and then torture them while they're weak. You sicken me!"

She merely cowered at the truth of his words.

Looking down at his chest, he grabbed the handle of the knife stuck in his heart. Then he heard her voice calling to him, "No! Don't Raimundo! You'll die!"

He looked around at Kimiko, "If I don't…the world will die, my love." Looking back in contempt at Wuya, "Besides, it's time I put an end this, once and for all!"

Pulling with both hands, the blade came out with a sickening, sucking sound. Blood instantly ran like a river down his clothes, soaking them. Dropping the knife he spoke again, venom coating his words, "When you threatened me, that was one thing, but to threaten the one I love! That's a grave mistake…"

"Now Raimundo, I—Stop Please!"

"Silence!" He shouted in rage, his adrenaline pushing him on, "Stop? Please? How many times have I asked you to 'stop'? How many times have I asked you to 'please stop'? You tortured me into madness, waited until I got better, then took me back and started torturing me again; then you try to kill the girl I love, but instead stabbed me in the heart and you want me to 'stop'? 'Please'? You're lucky you're still alive now, but don't worry, I'll end your suffering…"

Putting his hand over the hole in his chest, he said, "You gave me this, as revenge. Now I'm going to use it to destroy you. Ironic isn't it." With this he shouted the dreaded words, "Four Dragons' Soul!"

Light shined from his heart, and the bloody hole sealed up as if by magic, with no trace of him ever having been stabbed! The light grew in intensity and filled the entire cave with such a blinding radiance, that the other three warriors had to turn away from him.

Dojo's eyes adjusted as he said in shock, "It couldn't be, could it? After all these years, the Four Dragons' Soul? And how in the world did the kid get it?"

The others asked all at once, "What is the Four Dragons' Soul?"

He looked up at them, "I don't even need my scroll for this one. I remember it very well. The Four Dragons' Soul is the strongest Shen Gong Wu on earth."

"WHAT!" they all shouted at him.

He covered his ears, "Come on," looking back at the figure that was Raimundo, "Let's go outside, he'll be like that for awhile."

The three monks walked slightly outside the cave so they could talk. Dojo wiped his eyes after coming out of the intense light, "That's better. Now where was I?"

Omi picked him up by the tail, "You were about to tell us about the very strong Wu you never mentioned."

Dropping him, Dojo brushed himself off, "Not just strong, the strongest. The Four Dragons' Soul is the center point, for all the other Wu, even the Emperor Scorpion cowers before it."

"What exactly does it do?" Clay asked.

"The Four Dragons' Soul is like a recharge battery—"

Omi laughed, "Is that all? The Tai-Chi Lantern does the same thing!"

Dojo went up into his face, "Before, I was rudely interrupted! I was about to say that it's very much like the Tai-Chi Lantern, except much more powerful."

"How much more?" Kimiko asked.

"Infinitely more," he replied, "First it acts as a storage battery cell. It takes the powers of all humans who are, were or have the potential to be, Xiaolin Dragons all over the world, and stores it inside itself."

As if on cue, bright rays of light, shot out of the cave. Three of the rays went through the three warriors before continuing on. All three collapsed, suddenly robbed of all their strength.

Wuya felt one of the bolts go through her, before collapsing in sudden exhaustion. She looked up at Raimundo, who was now hovering in the air, surrounded by a bright halo. His eyes were no longer human, but glowed of intense light. His clothes gleamed, and his hair was radiant bronze, his body was alight from the inside out. He smirked at her. Once, she had been a Xiaolin Monk, making her susceptible to him. Funny how things worked out…

Deep in the Sakani Mountains, beams of light traveled down the inside of a dormant volcano. Once inside, the scene changed from rock and ash, to a luscious paradise, filled with dancing brooks, breathtaking waterfalls, sparkling flora and rainbow mists. All around were beautiful Grecian gazebos, satellites of the main white marble palace, which stood in the center of the oasis.

The lights didn't notice any of this; all they saw was their targets. Many cats of the wild: lions, tigers, leopards, and panthers, which patrolled the grounds; were hit by many of the lights, and fell to the ground in exhaustion. They the lights then went back to their source; all but one, who was seeking its quarry in the darkness of the palace.

Finding it, it immediately went back from whence it came. Its prey, sitting on the throne, shuddered with the sudden energy loss, but didn't fall.

The master of the realm did nothing, his sharp catlike eyes assessing the situation. Someone had used the Four Dragons' Soul? Who would be so reckless…or desperate?

Looking toward a puma that sat at attention near his throne, he snapped his fingers, the puma transformed into a grey-clad masked ninja, who had once been called Snake Eyes.

The master spoke to his slave with a cold, clipped, yet highly intelligent voice. "Travel in the shadows and find where that light came from. Observe everything that occurs, then report back to me."

The ninja bowed and then raced off, fast as the wind, in order to carry out his master's orders.

"I feel like I just ran around the world twice while hogtied." Clay said picking himself up.

"That was what I've been talking about." Dojo ranted. "The Four Dragons' Soul, or FDS, will add your powers along with about two thousand other people and store them within itself."

"Ooh! That is a lot of power." said Omi.

"Yeah, and that's not all. The Dragons' beams transcend time and space. That means they reach out into yesterday and tomorrow taking from those of Xiaolin Dragon potential, their powers." Dojo explained.

"Hunh?" was written on all their faces.

The dragon sighed; sometimes he didn't understand why humans didn't understand. "Look at it this way. The beams can time travel to all points in time. Multiply the two thousand and so from here in the present, and multiply it by 365 days in the year. Then multiply that by 2005 years there's been. Then multiply that by the three million years before that."

Clay whistled, "Whew! That's more power than my mind can think about."

"And that isn't all. Add on all the years from tomorrow to the end of time."

Kimiko gasped, "That amount of power is-is astronomical! What does it do with all this power once it's stored up?"

"Well, remember when I called it a recharge battery? It uses all the energy it's saved up to boost its possessor's own abilities. Giving its possessor unlimited power!"

"How did Raimundo come to posses such a gift?" Omi asked in astonishment.

"That's what I can't understand. The Four Dragons' Soul was lost after Master Dashi's fight with Wuya. It was probably stolen and hidden by her sometime before. Master Dashi cursed her to make sure she could never use it. She probably gave it to Rai, that way she could control it through him, but he must have double-crossed her."

"Why couldn't you sense it on him?"

"That Wu stays active all the time. It draws its power from the earth, which is why I have no way of tracking it."

The light began to lessen inside the room, and they headed back in. They were shocked at the sight they faced. Wuya was lying prostrate in fear, in front of a Raimundo they didn't recognize. As the light began to draw back into his chest, they could see that he was now clad in the blue and yellow armor of a full Xiaolin Dragon Grand Master. He floated in the air, his body—glowing, his eyes--white lights, and his hair--a halo of lit bronze. By his side was the Sword of the Storm, alight with white flames.

Kimiko's mouth curved into a smile, "Wuya's a goner."

Dojo's voice answered solemnly, "It's not Wuya I'm worried about, it's Raimundo."

Kimiko grabbed him up, "Why?"

He cowered in her hands, "Master Dashi never used the FDS. No one, with any kind of sense does. The side effects are too great."

Kimiko couldn't believe this! She squeezed him tight, "WHAT side effects!"

Dojo hurried through it, "The FDS gives infinite power to a finite being. This is like trying to make a god out of a mortal, it just can't be done. Anyone who has ever used it, has either become permanently insane, or-or died…"

Kimiko dropped the tiny dragon and looked up at the man she loved. Was he aware he was putting everything at risk? She shook her head, of course he was. He had known that from the beginning…