Chapter 4: The Amazon and the Arctic Circle
Omi waited silently at the edge of the river with a long, sharpened stick held over his head. He listened to the sounds of birds, frogs, and monkeys in the background as he watched for a fish to pass by so he could spear it and cook it. This had become part of his daily routine for the passed week; travel through the jungle and try to find civilization for most of the day, stop once or twice to try to catch food; and then spend sunset building a fire. "I do not see how Raimundo can stand living in this country." Omi complained quietly as he finally spotted a fish coming his way. "It's almost one-hundred percent humidity, there are jaguars around every corner and the Mosquitoes here are the size of my head! Brazil sucks!" Unknown to Omi, however, he was actually in Peru.
Omi hurled his spear into the water. Water splashed into the air and he saw multiple fish scatter, but it wasn't until the water settled into simply rippled that Omi saw that he'd failed to get anything. "Damn it!" He couldn't blame himself though; he did have other things on his mind. The last thing he remembered before waking up alone in this jungle was Mimi and he fighting against the Sin of Wrath and passing out when Wrath pointed a sniper rifle at them. He wanted to know so many things; what happened to Mimi, did the others win their fights, were they even alive? He couldn't stand not knowing.
After another hour or so of fishing Omi had finally managed to spear a few and headed back to the small shelter he'd made for himself. He couldn't help but feel like he was being watched through the whole walk, as short as it was. He figured it was just another Jaguar, he'd seen many over the last few days.
Omi set his food down inside of his shelter, made of tree branches and various plants. "Something's not right here." He muttered. He looked outside and found nothing out of the ordinary so he just shrugged it off and started on his nightly fire. The fire was always the worst part of his day as it was hard to start and needed constant vigilance in case it tried to go out. It always got him frustrated very quickly. "What I wouldn't give for a flame thrower right about now." He complained after about twenty minutes of rubbing sticks together.
"Ok, kid, but you asked for it."
Omi felt a sudden heat at his back and a strange crackling sound arrived. He made a jump for it and got out of his shelter just in time to see it catch on fire. It wasn't long before he saw who was responsible. It was a man wearing strange armor twirling the Star Hanabi in his hand and sitting on a low branch up above. "You know, playing with fire is pretty dangerous, especially in a place like this… Orb of Tornami!" The armored man then pulled the orb out and dumped water over the fire he'd just started.
"The orb?" Omi checked his sleeves to see if he still had the Orb of Tornami and wasn't surprised to find that it was gone. "Give that back!"
"Bossy, aren't we." The armored man said, annoyed. He stood up and tossed the orb in the aria few times. "Here… catch." He caught the orb one last time before throwing it at Omi so fast that Omi couldn't even dodge. The orb slammed Omi in the fore head and knocked him to the ground. "I said catch. You need to listen, kid."
Omi, now with a red bump the size of a melon on his head, staggered back to his feet. "What the hell's you're problem?" he demanded.
"The question isn't what my problem is." The armored man said as he jumped down from the branch and started walking closer to Omi. "The real question is what can you do to get rid of your problem."
"I don't follow…"
The armored man just shook his head and sighed. "If you want to get home and save the world then follow me." He then jumped back into the trees and started leaping his way out of sight. Omi chased after him. It started out simple enough, the armored man jumped from branch to branch with Omi following close behind copying his every move. Omi wasn't sure why he was following this man. By now he'd learned not to trust random people like that, even with promises like his. But for some reason this person seemed trust worthy, almost as though they'd met before a long time ago. "Just like I thought. You're way to slow, kid." The armored mans voice snapped Omi out of his thoughts and he picked up the pace. The chase continued at the same rate for a while until the armored man made an unexpected move. He jumped off of one branch but instead of touching down on the next and jumping again he grabbed onto a higher branch, flipped over it and just as Omi was going under him he went back down, slamming his foot into Omi's back and sending him back to the forest floor.
Omi crashed to the ground, skidded across the mud and then pushed himself back to his feet. "What is wrong with you?" he demanded.
"You need to be ready for anything at all times." The armored man stated as he perched himself on a branch. "The Seven Deadly Sins don't play by fight club rules… and neither do I." and with that he took off again with Omi still pursuing.
They continued the chase for some time after that, the armored man almost constantly pulling more tricks and sucker punched like before. Omi was almost hit the first few times but quickly got the hang of it and was soon dodging them easily. He even tried to fight back once or twice but to no avail. The armored man was very impressed by how quickly the young monk learned and decided to move onto phase two.
The armored man could seem the twilight of the sun set growing slowly brighter in between the trees. They were coming close to a clearing and hopefully the one he wanted. It wasn't long before he crashed through a wall of leaves and into the open air, grabbing onto a higher branch before he was too far out and swing up on top of it. Omi zipped through the wall of leaves after him but he went too far out and was unable to grab a tree…
…Before he fell into the river below.
The armored man nodded and then vanished, reappearing in the trees on the other side of the river. "Your element may be water, but have you mastered it enough to get out of this and keep up with me at the same time?" he called.
He didn't have to wait long to get his answer. Before he'd even started tree-jumping again a ball of water had risen out of the water with Omi inside of it. The armored man swung around and started jumping again as the ball of water zoomed after him at lightning speed, slashing into water on contact with the trees and freeing Omi to chase after him. As I thought… the armored man thought. He has potential… a power even I couldn't have anticipated. But he's not one of them.
With Omi's sudden burst of speed the armored man had to admit that he was sort of struggling to keep the little nuisance off of him. He was making more twists and turns and attacking Omi more than before and he easily kept up with him and dodged every attack. Omi even tried retaliating once more and managed to brush his fingers against his armor, a big improvement from before.
And finally they came to the place where the armored man had been leading Omi to the whole time. The two broke through the trees again to come to a clearing. It was just a large field of extremely tall grass that led to a cliff which hung over the Pacific Ocean… and a few huge, razor sharp rocks. The armored man jumped from the trees into the grass and ran forward until he was only a few feet from the edge of the cliff. He stood there, looking out to sea as Omi ran up behind him, breathing heavily and barely able to speak, but there not the less. "Why… have you… brought me h-here?" Omi gasped.
"Time to see if you can prove me wrong, kid." The armored man summoned his katana sword and swung around, pointing the blade directly at Omi. "I suggest you find a weapon before I slice you in half."
Thinking quickly Omi summoned his power over water and a small jet of water shot up from the ocean and into Omi's hand, freezing into the form of a sword. They both clinched their swords tightly in both hands and began to circle each other, never taking their eyes off the other. Finally, the armored man teleported behind Omi and brought his blade down at him. Omi swung around and deflected the katana with his ice sword. While the armored man was regaining control of his weapon Omi twirled around and tried slashing at his opponents chest only to have his attack blocked by the armored mans sword. They remained stationery for a second with their swords pressing against each other until they both swung around completely and their blades clashed again. They separated again and Omi jumped back to get some distance. The armored man chased after him, going on the offensive and slashing at Omi every time he got close enough. Omi, however, managed to barely dodge each one.
Omi was so busy dodging the armored mans attacks that he couldn't attack back and he also didn't notice that the armored man was slowly cornering him in between him and the cliffs edge. By the time Omi had realized that he was trapped it was too late. The armored man knocked Omi's ice sword out of his hand and then pushed Omi to the ground. He then took his katana in both hands, pointing the blade towards the ground, and plunged it down at Omi. The blade stabbed into the ground directly next to Omi's head.
"On your feet, kid." The armored man ordered. Omi hesitated at first, thinking that this was some kind of trick. But he soon saw that the armored man meant him no harm (at the moment) and he slowly staggered to his feet. The armored man nodded and placed his hand on Omi's head. "You're good... you've got potential I've never seen in anybody else… but I'm sorry to say that you aren't capable of beating the Seven Deadly Sins… at least, not on your own."
"I know that." Omi agreed. "My friends and I have battled the Sins multiple times and as of the last we failed miserably. I just know there's some kind of secret to defeating them… I just don't know what it is."
The armored man sighed and hung his head. "All of the answers will come in time, Omi… but for now you only need to do one thing."
"What is that?"
"Go home." With that the armored man pushed back on Omi's head and sent him tumbling over the edge of the cliff. "You have potential, kid! Use it!"
Omi didn't know what he meant by potential. Was he supposed to use his elemental powers to somehow teleport back to the temple or something? He just didn't understand. He didn't have time to think either, because if he thought it over for too long the rocks below would crush him. So, given the circumstances, Omi trusted the only thing he could at the moment. His instincts. And as luck would have it his instincts took over right then and there.
The armored man watched from the cliff above as Omi's body was suddenly engulfed in a blinding light. The light stopped just above the water and hovered their for a moment before it shot out to sea at lightning speed, reaching the horizon in seconds and leaving walls of water rising on both sides of its path.
"Seven down… one to go." The armored man muttered before vanishing.
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
Julia groaned as she forced her eyes open. "Where am I?" she breathed as she got a look as her surroundings. She was inside of some kind of one room log cabin with various stuffed animal heads on the wall (and one bear whose entire body had been stuffed). Across the room there was a fire place with a chimney and a bear skin rug just in front of that. Julia herself was lying on a couch and was rapped in quite a few blankets. But despite the warm cocoon of blankets she was in there was still a slight chill in the air.
"You are in northern Russia, just north of the Arctic Circle."
Julia flipped over on the couch and looked at the other side of the room. She found more stuffed animal heads and a guy sitting in a chair. This man seemed familiar to her. He was dressed very warmly, a thick coat and snow pants and stuff like that. He had blond hair that was cut straight across just above his eyes all the way around his head. "Who are you?" Julia asked.
"My name is Vlad." He answered.
"I recognize you… weren't you one of Jack Spicer's goons back in Iceland?" Julia asked.
Vlad simply nodded and reached to the other side of his chair. He brought back a mug and held it out to her. "Drink." He said. "Sleeping for a week can put a strain on the muscles."
"I've been sleeping for a week?" Julia asked, taking a sip of Vlad's drink (some kind of tea).
"I found you out in the tundra just over a week ago today and brought you back here to my cabin… I may be a villain but in times like these… well… let's just say the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Julia was confused. Why would Vlad, one of Jacks flunkies, help her out and what did he mean by "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" "Could you please explain to me what's happened since you've found me? What do you mean by 'times like these'?" Vlad explained everything to her. The Seven Deadly Sins had taken over the entire planet in a single instant; six of them now rule one of the continents each while the seventh rules over them from Antarctica; she as well as her friends (though for some odd reason Rush wasn't in that count) were now wanted criminals; and now civilization had pretty much reverted to the medieval ways, only some of the advanced technologies had stayed. "So… if I'm a wanted criminal does that mean you're going to turn me in for a reward?"
Vlad shook his head. "You are wanted dead or alive and I could've had your frozen body half way to Rome by now if I wished. As I said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and right now my only enemies are the Seven Deadly Sins."
"So, what, you want to team up or something?" Julia asked, getting a sudden dread just from the idea.
"For a short time, yes. Believe me, I am no more enthusiastic about it than you, but I believe that you and your friends are the only hope of defeating the Sins. Tomorrow morning we will head for Moscow. There I will arrange a transport to take you back to the Xiaolin temple."
"How do you plan to do that?" Julia asked. "From what you tell me intercontinental travel is forbidden and is punishable by death."
"I have… connections." Vlad explained. "Now please, rest. We have a long travel ahead of us tomorrow."
MOSCOW THE NEXT DAY
"So… how's this going to work again?" Jewel asked.
"I'm going to take you to Moscow's resistance headquarters and you will be smuggled to China from there. I, however, have other plans for myself." Vlad knew that Jewel was going to ask what so he decided to answer before she could ask. "Let's just say that the Sin of Gluttony is passing through today and my associates and I have a surprise for him."
"So… one week and there's already a resistance movement?" Jewel asked.
"That is how serious this is." Vlad explained.
They were silent from there until they reached where they were going. It was a small pub with almost no body inside, jus the bar tender and one or two customers. Vlad walked up to the bar tender and flashed him a slip of paper. The bar tender nodded and reached under the counter. Vlad motioned for Jewel to follow him and they went to the back room. Once there a small part of the wall opened like a door and they went inside. After a few moments of traveling the long dark tunnel they came to a dead end. A voice suddenly echoed through the tunnel. "Who knocks at the garden gate?"
"Two thorns in the heel of the gardener." Vlad answered. Just as he'd finished speaking a door opened in front of him and Jewel. Passed the door was a small room much like Vlad's cabin, only it was round and there was a table in the center with a few people sitting around it.
"Vlad…" One of the strangers said, this was a short but muscular that seemed to be in his mid fifties. He gray hair covered his eyes but went no further than that, he had a thick gray mustache, and he wore the same warm clothes that Vlad did. "I've wondered where you've been. Is the girl you told us of in your note?"
Vlad nodded. "This girl is one of the eight that I believe will be able to defeat the Sins. It is our responsibility to smuggle her back to the Xiaolin Temple in China so she may reunite with her comrades and plan out how to defeat the Seven Deadly Sins."
"And what makes you so sure that this girl and her comrades can even defeat the Sins?" the elderly man asked.
"Because, Raphael, she and her comrades are the only ones ever to fight the Sins and live to tell the tale." Vlad explained. "I witnessed one such event myself."
Raphael nodded and turned back to the others to discuss the matter, but Jewel couldn't understand because they spoke in Russian. It wasn't long before Raphael turned back with their decision. "We'll help you out, girl. But for the worlds sake Vlad had better be right."
LATER IN THE STREETS OF MOSCOW
"You are sure everything is set?" Vlad asked to Raphael as they waited patiently in the crowd that had unwillingly gathered to watch Gluttony pass through the city.
Raphael nodded. "The truck with the girl on it will leave after Gluttony passes by. And when Gluttony passes by us…" He paused and undid his coat to reveal he had various guns and at least a dozen grenades strapped to the inside of it. "… We'll give that son of a bitch a proper welcoming from Russia… with guns."
Meanwhile, not far away, Julia waited patiently for the driver to arrive, leaning against the truck she was supposed to be on. "What could possibly be taking so long?" she grumbled.
"He's not coming."
Jewel turned her head to find a man wearing strange armor standing next to her. "The real driver has been disposed of by Gluttony's secret police. A false one will arrive shortly and will take you just outside of Moscow, at which point the truck will explode, killing you both."
Julia was both shocked and confused. Who was this guy and how did he know all of this? But before she could ask the armored man simply turned away from her and started walking away. "If you value your life you'll get away from here now." He said before disappearing into the crowd. Julia wasn't sure if this guy could be trusted… but then again Vlad couldn't exactly be trusted either, even if he hated the Sins just as much as she did. She couldn't decide what to do; that's when she noticed a small folded piece of paper on the ground where the armored man had been standing. She picked it up and unfolded it to read what was written.
Stay in Moscow until Gluttony is gone. Some one will be around to get you after wards. You'll know them when you see them.
P.S. Elena's safe and sound at the temple already.
After reading this Jewel decided to take the armored mans advice and get away from the truck. She worked her way through the crowd, hoping to find him again but he'd either disappeared or was too far into the crowd to be found.
And then it all started. Trumpets sounded near by as the Sin of Gluttony came into view. The colossal dark skinned man with the stone mask sat on a thrown on wheels that was being dragged along by two extremely large lizards (they could pretty much be considered dragons) and he was completely surrounded by a small army of personal guards. Amazingly, people began to chant his name, though clearly they weren't enthusiastic. Gluttony simply glanced at them occasionally and rolled his eyes. Clearly the ruler of all of Europe didn't want to be there any more than anyone else did.
About five minutes after Gluttony had first appeared Vlad and Raphael's plan went into action. It started with Cannons going off from the roof tops. Gluttony sat in his throne unfazed by the sudden bombardment of his troops and transportation. Next many men on the ground started pulling guns out of their coats and started shooting at Gluttony. The bullets just bounced off of his skin but this was enough to anger him as after this he stood up, grabbed his club from the side of his throne, and jumped into the crowd. He rampaged through the crowd, crushing anyone who had shot at him and anyone who got in his way, intentionally or not. It wasn't long before the only ones left shooting were Vlad and Raphael.
Jewel couldn't stand to watch anymore and ran into a nearby ally. She was so preoccupied with getting away from the fight that she failed to notice what was flying over the city.
The Silver Manta Ray.
(a/n) I was definatly listening to the wrong music when I wrote Omi and the armored mans fight scene (sweet home alabama, good for road trips and boat rides, but not fight scenes), so Im kinda disapointed with that part, but Ill leave whether its good or not up to you guys. anyway, after this Ive got one more chapter thatll explain someones location (jack and nina) and after that the war really begins. and yes, I left Vlad and Raphaels fate a mystery for a reason. youll definatly see Vlad later on along with many other villains from the show, but as of now Raphael is one of those OCs crated for a single chapter. I like him though, so he might come back. thats all I can think of for now. if you have any questions go ahead and ask and Ill answer as best I can without giving anything away. later.