Within and Without
"Humanity continues to astound me." Echidna said as she squared off against Raimundo. "I tear down your temple, devour all of your friends, and send my armies to overrun your planet, and still you continue to defy me! Whether that is immense stupidity or immense bravery, I cannot say. All that I can do is tell you that, against a dragon, you stand no chance."
"That's funny," Raimundo quipped. "I was just about to tell you the same thing."
Echidna flicked out her tail and wrapped it around Raimundo's waist. "One." She said.
Raimundo flung himself free of her grasp and landed a few feet away. The dragon licked her lips. He raised the Serpent's Tail up into the air and shouted out its name. Echidna watched as the ground swallowed him up.
The Dragon of the Wind dove down and down, deeper into the earth was so alien to him. Even while intangible, the choking otherworldliness of the ground in the Yin-Yang World seemed to be bearing down upon him on either side. Above him, he could hear Echidna stomping around and cackling. She was waiting for him to resurface, as they both knew he would have to soon.
I guess I'd better disappoint her then. He thought grimly.
He stopped his ghostly descent into the ground and simply stopped. His mind screamed for real oxygen, even though his body no longer needed it, but he knew that if he appeared too quickly Echidna would lay her claws on him and capture him a second time.
Echidna chuckled softly to herself. "So this is battle strategy of the mighty Shoku Warrior? Hide in the ground and hope I forget? How pathetic."
Hannibal Bean felt the need to defend his newfound allies. "You really don't get how smart these humans are, don't you? Don't you figger that Raimundo's only gone because he has some sorta sneaky plan up those wide sleeves of his?
"What do you mean?" Echidna asked sweetly.
"Oh, I don't know." Bean said, shrugging. "All I know is that you better keep an eye on your scaly red behind, is all I'm saying."
Echidna closed her eyes. Her telepathic sensors spread throughout the Yin-Yang World, touching every soul that lay within its cavernous halls. Centuries worth of human chi, both great and small, had been ensconced inside the innumerable bottles on those enchanted shelves. After she was done, she fully intended to go through them and gorge herself on their spiritual energies. It would be a feast that would be spoken of for millennia to come, and once she gained all that power then no force on earth would be beyond her control.
"How do you stand being so weak?" Echidna said suddenly.
Bean looked up at her. "I am not weak."
Echidna curled her lips contemptuously. "Do not delude yourself, Hannibal Bean. Your power has never been great, but losing half of your chi has relegated you to being less than a shadow of your former self." She examined him, seeing not only his physical form but the shape of the flickering, purely yang aura that enshrouded him. "Is that what you want for yourself?"
"I want to be good." Bean said. "And I am. Separating my yin is the best thing that ever happened to me."
Echidna shrugged in response. "If that's what you want, far be it for me to argue. I simply assumed that you would desire something, well... more..."
Bean opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something. But then he shut it again. Echidna stared down at him quizzically, then pivoted her heads around in alarm. A ghostlike shape rocketed through the sky and wrapped itself around her necks.
"ONE." Raimundo's voice seemed to echo as he went from ghostly to solid.
"Oh, well done!" Echidna said. She slashed at him, forcing him to let go, then continued her offensive by firing bolts of electrical force at him as he glided back across the floor.
"Typhoon BOOM!" Raimundo roared, clapping his palms together. A whirlwind exploded around his palms, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling. "Hey, what was that?" He muttered as he struggled to his hands and knees.
"The Yin-Yang World alters magical powers." Echidna informed him. "Your usual tricks won't be as effective in here."
That's what YOU think! Raimundo thought defiantly. "I guess I won't use my usual tricks. I've been saving these moves for when I really need them." He eyed Echidna cockily. "Wudai Maelstrom Blade!" He chopped at the air ferociously, sending a visible cone of energy zipping straight towards Echidna. It detonated against her chest, causing her necks to whip back at a horrific angle. "Wudai Thermal Wind!" A long spike of blazing wind cut straight through the sky and drove both of Echidna's heads hard into the ground. "And now... Wudai Hurricane Explosion!" Raimundo drew back his arms, filling them with the raw unbridled force of a natural disaster. Echidna was still dazed; if he could hit her one last time, he would be able to knock her down and capture her once and for all.
But just as he was about to charge forward and launch his final attack, Echidna's tail slammed into the ground. The ground beneath them both ruptured; in the next instant, a pillar of earth shot up underneath Raimundo and sent him flying into the ceiling. His Hurricane Explosion attack went off on him, blasting him straight across the Yin-Yang World and into a row of thick shelves.
Raimundo was still lying in a rapidly-expanding pool of other people's chi when Echidna appeared above him, looking very battered but acting none the worse for wear.
"Two." She tittered, grabbing him by the neck with two of her claws. She let him drop to the ground, then stretched out her claws again to 'capture' him a third time and win the Showdown.
"Ugh... I just have one chance..." Raimundo grunted. Kimiko! Omi! Clay! If you can hear me... "Wudai Orion Formation!"
Echidna paused. "What was that?"
A loud rumbling sound came from the direction of Echidna's stomach. "Aaaaah..." She moaned as her entire body began to pulse with light. "Is this some sort of trick?"
"No." Raimundo said in a soft voice. "Go, Xiaolin monks. Finish her."
"Wudai Neptune -- ICE!"
Echidna was suddenly enveloped in a block of frozen ice. Hovering above her was a ghostly silhouette that almost looked like Omi.
"Wudai Crater -- EARTH!"
Echidna smashed her way free of the ice only to have tendrils of molten lava appear out of thin air and bind her necks together. Clay's shade joined Omi's.
"Wudai Mars -- FIRE!"
Kimiko's voice thundered throughout the Yin-Yang World, only to be drowned out by the horrific screams of Echidna as she was transformed into a colossal pillar of pure white flames. The dragon roared and shrieked in mortal agony as she stumbled backwards, her glowing arms slapping weakly at her burning body.
"Don't tell me I still have to touch her." Raimundo muttered.
Clay's spirit flashed above him, and a cage of earth rose out of the ground behind Echidna. Raimundo took the hint and flung a ball of wind straight at her, knocking her into the cage and causing the door to swing shut. "Two." Raimundo said. The cage dissipated the moment he spoke and Echidna kept staggering back, still screaming her heads off. Raimundo ran towards her. "This is for trying to eat my friends!" Raimundo seized her by the tail, and...
The entire Yin-Yang World was filled with a blinding yellow light.
"Oh, yeah." Raimundo said. "Three."