Defiance
The Meditation Hall was cleared out of all of its furniture except for a few book shelves and a long table with chairs enough for all of the monks at the Temple. It was redubbed the War Room and was even adorned with a banner with Dashi's face on it to inspire them.
The Vault, which had been quietly ransacked by one of Mayun's flunkies at some point, was cleaned out as well. The Golden Tiger Claws had vanished, but all of the remaining Shen Gong Wu were gathered up and given to the monks who would be guarding the outer walls of the Temple. No one was worried about losing them; if they were defeated, then all the Shen Gong Wu in the world wouldn't matter afterward.
"Okay," Raimundo said as he clambered into the high chair between Master Fung and Master Monk Guan. "We've got 4 Xiaolin monks, 100 warrior-monks, 70 dragons, and a handful of old guys. Sorry Master Fung," He grinned sheepishly at Master Fung, who didn't seem bothered. "We've been talking tactics for a while, and here's what we've got."
He cleared his throat and unraveled a scroll. "50 warrior-monks armed with Shen Gong Wu will man the outer walls of the Temple to fight Echidna and her army. They'll be backed up by 40 dragons and the old guys will be there too, manning the catapults to beat off a siege. If we're lucky, Echidna and her army will be destroyed then."
A few of the dragons laughed at that.
"Seriously though, that's not going to happen. The whole point of that is to destroy some of Echidna's skeleton dragons and waste her time and energy so that the rest of us can carry out phase two of our master plan."
"Underneath this temple is a series of wide tunnels. Some of them lead to the Vault, which in retrospect is a bad idea since that was probably how Mayun stole the Tiger Claws in the first place. But it doesn't matter now. What matters is that I will be outside the Vault to lure Echidna into those tunnels. Once she's deep into the tunnels, the remaining monks and dragons will hit it with everything they've got to collapse the tunnels around her, burying her alive."
"As she did to me, all those years ago!" King Marduk bellowed, slamming his fist down onto the table.
"Are you done?" Raimundo snapped. "Because I'm trying to save the universe here, but I don't want to interrupt you."
"Sorry." Marduk sulked.
"Everybody's going to have to pitch in, though." Raimundo continued. "That means we're all going out into the rain and freezing wind to set up the anti-siege weapons. And… that's it. What do you think?"
"Excellent job." Master Monk Guan said.
"Y'know," Clay said, scratching idly at his bandaged head. "I had my doubts about you before, but if this thing works, then I'll take back every single thing I said about your leadership skills."
Raimundo grinned. "I sure hope it works, because if it doesn't then it really won't matter what you think about my leadership."
"Heh, good point." Clay replied, smiling toothily.
Preparing for war is never glamorous, but the Xiaolin monks had never done anything as difficult as dragging out all the old weapons in Master Monk Guan's armory. They were ancient, and rusty, and covered with spider-webs and rust and all kinds of mold. They were also very, very heavy.
"Mikado Arm!" Omi said, using the Shen Gong Wu to grant himself amazing upper body strength. He carried a catapult up to the outer walls, while Clay made rocks for it to launch.
Kimiko used the Changing Chopsticks and Reversing Mirror to make herself a giant, allowing her to line the walls with dozens of anti-siege weapons. Master Fung's medicine cabinet also contained boiling mortar and rotting cheese fondue, which when mixed together made excellent goop to pour down on any of Echidna's soldiers who tried to knock down the Temple's walls.
Raimundo's main job was to show the warrior-monks how to use the Shen Gong Wu. A few had snuck some out of the vault to mess with but most were completely unfamiliar with how to fight with them.
"Look, it's easy." He said. He picked up a random Wu out of a treasure chest. "Just point the Wu at whatever you want to zap and say its name. Like so…" He pointed his chosen Wu at a nearby rock and shouted, "Kusuzu Atom!" A lightning bolt struck the rock, vaporizing it.
"Hey, I was going to use that for the giant slingshots!" Clay complained.
"There are plenty of other rocks!" Raimundo responded. "Anyway, do you guys think you can handle it?"
"I think so," said a warrior-monk. He picked up a Shen Gong Wu. "Uh… Tangled Web Comb?"
The tangled web instantly wrapped themselves around his body, choking him as he flopped to the floor.
Raimundo planted his face firmly into his palm. Oh boy…
There was a loud BOOM from somewhere near the Vault. "What is it?" Raimundo shouted.
Tiamat stuck his head out from outside the Vault. "Sorry," He wheezed. "I sneezed."
"Jeez, I thought maybe Echidna was launching a sneak attack!" Raimundo complained.
"Well, we're lucky so far." Kimiko said, shrinking down and coming out of the rain. "There's a lot of storm activity, but no sign of Team Evil."
"What about Jack Spicer?" Omi asked.
"He's probably hiding somewhere. Echidna promised him the world, and if she's going to give it to him then why should he work hard to take it?" Kimiko said.
"Good point." Clay said.
The mood within the Temple was curious. Even though it was dark out, everyone was feeling unusually light-hearted. They were more productive than they had ever been before, and even the face of impending doom didn't seem to worry them as much as it had before.
"It's almost like, we know that we're probably all going to be blown to bits, so why bother being afraid?" One of the warrior-monks remarked cheerfully later on that day. "The worst she could possibly do to us is kill us, and once she's done that we're off scot-free!"
"Such a serene attitude," Omi remarked.
"If by 'great', you mean 'suicidally insane'--," Raimundo began.
King Marduk disagreed. "I for one have no intention of being killed." He said. "The only who will die today is Echidna, her and her demon-spawn."
"Famous last words," Clay muttered under his breath.
"Guys, come check this out!" It was Kimiko at her laptop. The Xiaolin monks crowded around her and stared at the screen. "There are news reports from all over the world, saying that giant skeleton creatures are attacking major cities."
Raimundo peered at the string of news bulletins. "They've hit Tokyo, Washington, Paris, Hong Kong, Bras—Brasilia? Aw no!"
"They must be hitting every capital city in the world." Kimiko said.
"What are we gonna do?" Clay asked.
The screen suddenly turned fuzzy, then went blank. Kimiko shook the computer screen nervously but that didn't seem to help. Finally, the image returned, but this time it wasn't a news bulletin but a video. More specifically, it was a video of Jack Spicer, sitting on top of a throne chair. He was holding the Sword of Tartarus and stroking an evil-looking white cat.
"People of the Earth, you may have noticed that all of the capital cities in the world have suddenly been attacked." He said with a mean little smirk on his face. "Don't worry about it. It is only Phase One of my super-evil plan to take over the world. You see, I am Jack Spicer, and I control the dragons that are destroying your cities. Unless the governments of the world surrender to me immediately, my dragons will destroy one country every three hours. MWAHAHAHAHAHAH! That is all."
After staring at the screen for a few minutes, he looked at someone off-camera. "Was that good?" He asked nervously.
"Excellent, King Jack," Echidna replied.
" Really? I thought I laid it on thick with the evil laughter and all, but…"
"No, no, it serves your purposes beautifully. Well done."
"Hey, thanks, I--, hey is that thing on?" He squinted at the camera suspiciously. Then, he swung his Sword around and slashed through the camera. The screen went black before the bulletins returned.
"This just in – the UN Security Council has just authorized the speedy creation and deployment multinational military force to destroy these rampaging beasts. Good luck you guys!" The perky newsreader announced. "In other news, is Paris Hilton back in jail?"
Kimiko shut off the laptop.
"Maybe Echidna isn't even coming!" Raimundo groaned. "Our plan is useless!"
"No it isn't. There's still time." Kimiko said.
"She's still at Jack's citadel." Clay pointed out. "If only we could lure her here, we could stop her and her dragon army."
"How?" Omi asked.
Kimiko furrowed her brow. "I… think I have a way."
Jack Spicer had just finished sending out an ultimatum to the people of the world from his rebuilt palace and, once again, he was getting bored. He was watching the battle for the planet on a wide-screen TV. The skeleton dragons were face-to-face with a swarm of tanks and assault helicopters and were faring very well.
"Did anyone surrender yet?" Jack asked the Jack-bot in charge of monitoring the situation.
"No, not yet, master." The Jack-bot responded promptly.
"What? Not even France?"
"That is a very bigoted and offensive statement, master."
"You're right, I'm sorry." Jack slumped in his throne. How long was this going to take? "Get me the Xiaolin monks. I want to gloat some more."
"Aye, aye." There was a loud ringing noise and the Jack-bot disgorged a telephone from somewhere inside its stomach. Jack hesitantly picked up the receiver.
"Xiaolin losers!" He crowed.
"Hello, Jack Spicer." Kimiko replied over the phone.
Jack grinned. "I'll bet you're scared right now. I'll bet you're wondering how you're going to beat me this time."
"No, not really." Kimiko said. "We already have a plan. A really good one, in fact. It'll bring down your little snake buddies."
"Liar! I know you don't have a plan, because you haven't attacked me yet!" Jack retorted.
"Who says our plan has anything to do with you?" Kimiko said.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"You're not the real enemy here." Kimiko clarified. "You're just a tool; Echidna's puppet, really. You have no power, so why would we bother trying to attack you? Really, Spicer, this is pretty obvious."
"Oh yeah?" Jack yelled. "Well, I'm going to get you!"
"Really? Then you'd better go and get your owner's permission first." Kimiko said.
"I don't need permission! I'm not even going to tell her!" Jack shrieked. "Jack-bots!" He was suddenly surrounded by dozens and dozens of his robot flunkies. "Get ready! We're going to open a can of butt-whoop on the Xiaolin dorks! Let's go! LET'S GO!"
If Jack had been paying attention, he would have heard the monks laughing at him through the receiver.
"Is he coming?" Clay asked.
"Of course," Kimiko responded as she put down her cellphone.
"Hey, everyone!" Raimundo called. "Jack Spicer is coming here with an army of Jack-bots! We have to beat him, and beat him so hard that Echidna has to take notice."
"Hai!" The warrior-monks shouted in unison as they ran to their posts.
"You think this will work?" Clay asked.
"It is only Jack Spicer," Omi commented. "How difficult could he be?"
"Famous last words," Clay muttered, and a chill ran down everyone's spines.