Part 2: The Rebellion
Chapter 8: All Down Hill from Here
The eleven of them, Raimundo, Kimiko, Clay, Omi, Saya, Mimi, Julia, Elena, Jet, Jess, and Hamster all stared at the smoking piles of ash that had once been the Xiaolin Temple. Most of them just couldn't believe it. Jet and Jess, though this wasn't the same for them, knew what it was like to loose a home and sympathized with them. But for the most part Omi seemed to be hit by this the hardest. Omi stepped forward and kneeled at the nearest pile of ash, digging his hands in and pulled them back out only to have the ashes fall through his fingers like sand. He clinched his fists tightly and turned away from the others so they couldn't see the tears running down his cheeks. "Now they pay." He growled.
"Omi…" Mimi said.
"Don't even start." Omi snapped, standing up. "You all have homes to return to… and those of you who don't have been living on your own for the most part to begin with… Me? This temple is all I've ever known… Those bastards have taken my home and the man who's acted like a father to me… and now they've taken everything that's kept me from tearing them limb from limb."
For some reason no one else noticed, but as Omi's rage built Saya noticed a dark aura surround his body and a black spot appear on the back of his head. The spot quickly began to branch out like tentacles… it was almost like a living tattoo. "Omi, I understand how you feel." She said. "We all do." As she spoke the spot and aura began to vanish. "We may not be as angry about this as you but we all want to get back at them for this. And we're going to… I promise." Just then she noticed Jess shaking her head. They glanced at each other and knew what each other was thinking. They'd talk later.
Omi just glared at his sister before turning to Jet, Jess and Hamster. "Who did this?" he demanded.
"Some Asian guy with a lot of guns and a skinny guy with red hair and an army." Jet answered. "We couldn't do a thing to stop them… they even overpowered your guard."
"Guard?" Kim asked.
"Oh crap, I forgot about him." Elena said, snapping to attention. She then pulled the Emperor Scorpion out of her pocket and latched it onto her arm. "Emperor Scorpion!" With a thundering roar Mala Mala Jong suddenly burst out of the ashes, jumped into the air and landed next to everyone. "That armored guy we saw at the coliseum helped me build this guy as a guard for the temple… don't look like it helped much though." Jong lowered its head and made a pouting noise.
"So where do we go now?" Rai asked, trying to ignore the big flaming monster made of Shen Gong Wu. "We really don't have any place to stay now."
Omi stood up and began walking through the ashes. "Help me find the vault. I hope I know the answer, Raimundo."
Not much later Elena had Jong throw a large pile of burned bricks and wood out of the way to reveal the entrance to the vault still open. Amazingly the fire hadn't spread inside there and everything was still in tact. Omi jumped in and began to make his way to the bottom and the others followed after him. At the bottom of the vault they found the hole in the wall that Omi and Mimi had made earlier. "In there." Omi said.
"You really think it's safe in there, Omi?" Mimi asked.
"As safe as any other place we could go." Omi answered.
"What're you guys talking about?" Kim asked as she followed them into the hole only to gasp at what she found on the inside. One by one the others followed after her only to have the same reaction.
It was beautiful, almost like a painting. There beneath the temple, undisturbed for who knows how long, was a wide grassy plain. They could see a forest off in the distance, surrounding them on all sides, there were streams throughout the area leading into a lake in the distance and there were even mountains in the background. It wasn't long before they noticed animals around them; squirrels, birds, rabbits, insects, deer and even foxes. It was a land untouched by human hands for centuries.
"What is this place?" Jess asked.
"I remember reading about a place like this once in the library." Omi answered. "A garden, untouched by man. No evil may enter this place and no darkness other than the night sky will dwell within it. It is truly a paradise… We will make our home here for now."
KENYA
"You are sure your people do not question their chief taking a stranger up a mountain that has been forbidden to them for centuries." Chase asked as he and Chief made their way up the mountain path. For the past few days Chase and Chief had been discussing what to do about the worlds little problem (along with reminiscing about their past). After arguing about it for hours Chase convinced Chief to take him to where Pride had been imprisoned.
"I've led these people for over fifteen hundred years and I was the one who forbid them to trek this mountain in the first place." Chief answered. "They do not question my authority."
"So tell me, how exactly was it that Pride was released." Chase said.
Chief stopped walking and lowered his head. "You already know part of the story I'm sure. It was Grand Master Dashi, Guan, you and myself all those years ago who battled and defeated Pride with the aid of the Seven Holy Virtues. After that Dashi had Pride and another demonic being imprisoned atop this mountain, leaving me to guard it. For fifteen hundred years I lead these people wisely, strictly enforcing our law that none shall set foot on this mountain… well one day, not long ago, a young and foolish boy broke our law. He slipped passed the guards and made his way up to the peak, hoping to find some magic that could cure an illness of the girl that he loved. He found the two altars at the peak of the mountain and broke the seal on one… releasing Pride from his prison. Pride was released in a blazing green hellfire and flew away… and the boy was banished for his idiocy."
"So, once again the ultimate evil is released by young love." Chase sighed. "Just like every other story in modern society."
"I could not agree with you more." Chief agreed.
It wasn't much longer before they reached the summit. There, just as Chief had said, were two stone altars waiting for them. The first was in the shape of Pride back when he still wore his eagle head shaped helmet. He was kneeling down on one knee and holding the opposite hand out. Sitting at the base of the altar were two halves of a round stone, broken when Pride had escaped. The second altar was very similar only it was an unnamed woman whose round stone was still in her hand in one piece though cracked deeply.
"Is there a story behind this altar I'm unaware of?" Chase asked.
"Just another damned soul that I took care of personally." Chief explained. "After Prides escape and the boy's banishment she too was almost released by the boy's lover… but we got to her before she could go through with it and she too is gone."
"I see…"
"So what are we looking for?" Chief questioned.
"You said yourself that these stones held Pride for fifteen hundred years and only let him free when this tone broke." He bent down and fingered the two halves of the round stone. "I want to know what exactly it was that held Pride here. Being as powerful as he is it must've taken a great magic to hold him down for so long… who made these stones?"
"A witch doctor of my tribe who died centuries ago." Chief explained. "He was said to be the Virtue of Humility at that time."
"So… his opposite could weaken and imprison him but not destroy him." Chase mumbled, moving to the other altar. "Why do you suppose that is, Chief?"
"When Pride was defeated the first time he took five of the other six Sins with him, leaving Lust behind because she was still alive. Humility alone could not destroy Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth and Envy so he went with what he could do and imprisoned them, only able to hope that they were never released."
"So much for that fantasy." Chief said. "Curiosity or desperation gets all of us sooner or later. It was amazing that I kept these people in line for as long as I did."
"It doesn't matter how long you kept them in line." Chase snapped. "The fact of the matter is you didn't keep them in line. The Sins have been released and in less than a year's time this world is going to die… If that happens then I can't rule it, which means I'm not about to let that happen." Chase walked over to Chief and offered his hand to the elderly man. "Are you in, or should I give you a long over due death?"
"You couldn't kill me even if I wanted you to." Chief chuckled. "And as much as I disagree with your motives, your goal is for the good of the world." Chief grabbed Chase's hand firmly and shook it. "I'm in."
"Excellent… FLASH STEP!" And with that they vanished, unaware that the surge of energy from the flash step had cracked the stone in the female statues hand completely. It wasn't explosive or flashy as Pride's escape had been; it was quiet and inconspicuous. A simple purple haze rose from the statue and blew away with the wind as an ominous laugh filled the air.
LOCATION UNKNOWN
Wuya had Dashi in chains, leading him down into the darkness of her dungeon with an evil grin on her face. Dashi refused to look her in the eye let alone speak to her. Wuya actually found this amusing. Fifteen hundred years ago she would've been on the opposite end of that chain refusing to look Dashi in the eye. But now it was Dashi who was at her mercy… and she was going to milk this for all it was worth.
"So how does it feel, Dashi?" Wuya jeered. "To be on the other end of the chains for once?"
"Not that bad, actually." Dashi said.
"Excuse me?"
"I've waited fifteen hundred years for this very moment, Wuya." Dashi explained. "I could break these chains any time I wanted and you know that. Why do you think I don't?" Wuya kept silent, honestly not having an answer. "Because I don't want to fight you and you don't want to fight me. Our enemy is Pride. I want to stop him in order to save the world, and you want to over throw him so you can have the world for yourself… I can see it in your eyes. You don't want to work for Pride… you just want him to do the dirty work."
Wuya just glared at him, suddenly loathing him more than she ever had before. Then she grinned and began laughing darkly. "Of course I want him to do the dirty work for me! Why do you think I'm sleeping with him? I need Pride to trust me so that he won't watch me. And if he doesn't watch me then I am free to do all my planning… What exactly would you do to defeat Pride anyway? You're the Virtue of Chastity, not Humility. You could do no more to Pride than young Raimundo did in his pitiful attempt to stop him."
"You're right." Dashi agreed. "I can't do a thing to Pride… but it's only a matter of time before the seven of us are reunited and the seven of you will be sorry."
Wuya just glared at him and pulled on the chain, forcing him down the hall again. "I think it's about time that you joined our other prisoner." She growled.
"So Pride didn't keep his end of the bargain after all." Dashi chuckled. "Envy won't be happy to hear about that."
"You know what just occurred to me?" Wuya asked, deciding to change the subject. "You and I never actually broke up back then… I just left to join Pride." The next thing Dashi knew Wuya had pinned him against the wall with one hand pressing against his chest while the other pulled the chain tighter, causing him to choke slightly. "Consider this a farewell gift…" Then she leaned in and kissed the monk. It was brief and there was no connection between them other than hatred and loathing, but it was a kiss nonetheless. Wuya pulled away and then spat to the ground, making a grimacing face as if she'd just ate a bug or something. "… because the next place you're going to see me is in hell." And with that she threw open a near by cell door and pushed Dashi inside, not bothering to remove the chain.
The Sin of Lust disappeared before Dashi even had time to stand and glare at her through the bars. It was then that he noticed the second prisoner. Raven looked over to him, pushing some of her now extremely messy hair out of her eyes before turning back to looking down at the floor. "I see." Dashi said. "You are Kindness." Raven nodded.
There was a long silence between the two, Dashi not speaking because he did not know what to say and Raven not speaking because she did not have the ability to. Still, Dashi couldn't help but smile at this new situation. By bringing him and Raven together they had reunited two of the Seven Holy Virtues, which put them one step closer to defeating the Sins once and for all. He turned to Raven again who was still staring down at the floor, but now a golden aura was showing faintly around her body. "So…" Dashi said nonchalantly. "…you got a deck of cards or something?"
BEJING, THREE MONTHS LATER
The darkness of the night sky hung over the city as the three shadowy figures silently moved over the roof tops. In the distance was their target… the Sin of Lust's palace. It wasn't far away now, just over one hundred yards or so. The leader of the three, a short but rather large man dressed as a ninja stopped and gazed at the palace and his two comrades stopped behind him. Both of them also dressed as ninjas but were taller than their leader and both wore sunglasses. The leader turned back to his companions and slipped a large iron gauntlet, with circuitry visible on some parts of it, over his hand. He nodded to them and they pulled out similar gauntlets. They all then pulled on metallic boots, also with visible electronics, and turned back to the palace. "She should've known better than to take Hong Kong from me." the leader growled. "Now I'm going to take all of China from her… and these electronic copies of the Shen Gong Wu should help out nicely… let's get moving."
"Right, boss." The two lackeys said before following their boss over more roof tops.
Not five minutes later the three had easily scaled the walls around Lust's palace and were now silently maneuvering their way though the halls, taking out any guards that got in their way.
This was actually the farthest any resistance movement had gotten to their target. True, assassins had gotten close before, like when Gluttony was almost taken out in Moscow. But this time they took a more inconspicuous approach and it was working. No one, absolutely no one, had gotten this close to a Sin with the intention of killing them and was still around to tell the tale.
The leader slammed his gauntlet against the back of a guards head and the guard fell to the ground. He motioned for the other two to follow. They were close to their target now, he could feel it.
It wasn't long before they found a large set of double doors, obviously leading into the Sin of Lust's bed chamber. The leader stopped on one side while the other two moved to the other side and waited for his signal. He held up one hand with all five fingers extended and began to pull each finger down one by one. When all five were down they all moved at the door and slammed their gauntlets into them, knocking the doors to the ground. As they'd expected there was a long hallway behind the doors which lead to the real room. "Good. She might not have woken up then." The leader mumbled.
They moved silently down the hall and tried opening the doors at the other end. Locked. The leader motioned for one of his companions to move forward. He one pulled another electronic weapon, this one in the shape of a star. The star began glowing white hot and he slashed it over the lock on the door.
The leader pushed open the door silently and moved into the darkness of the room. He glanced around but was unable to see anything outside of the light from the hallway. "Well, if we can't find her we'll do this the old fashion way… burn everything." He ordered.
"I don't think so." the lights suddenly flashed on and the three found themselves surrounded by golem guards with the Sin of Lust standing before them. "My, my… this is defiantly the most successful assassination attempt on one of the Sin's thus far. I commend you for your skills… but now you die."
The golem guards went to attack the three but the two underlings moved in front of their leader and threw smoke bombs to the ground, disappearing in the sudden haze. Wuya just rolled her eyes and summoned a small green fire in her hand. The fire showed the face of another golem guard that was somewhere else. "Would you be so kind as to set a price on the heads of Panda Bubba and his two lackeys?" the golem guard in the fire nodded. "Thank you."