Chapter 11: The Plan
Pride stood atop a cloud of his own magic, glaring down to the small Middle Eastern town through his blindfold. "You are positive Temperance awaits us in this filthy hovel of a town?" he questioned to the Sin of Envy who was hovering next to him.
"Without question, my lord." Rush answered. "Sloth's machine specifically identified this location… The Virtue of Temperance is somewhere among those buildings and we'll burn every one to the ground in order to find it."
"Excellent…" Pride grinned. "… Greed! Gluttony!" The scantily clad Middle Eastern woman and her monstrous older brother appeared kneeling on the air before them. "I believe you both know who to look for. Follow Envy into the town. Destroy everything in your path and slaughter anyone who gets in your way… but bring the Virtue of Temperance back alive."
"Yes, my lord." Greed said. Gluttony simply nodded. The three teleported down to the town below and almost instantly fire sprang up and screams could be heard. Pride watched from above, waiting patiently for a chance to look yet another of them in the eye. It was simply delicious for him to watch the hope drain out of the virtues eyes as they are brought forth to him and then taken away to the dungeons. Kindness had been the first, and the second she saw him she knew that nothing could stop what was happening to the world. Soon Temperance would join her, as would Humility, Diligence, Charity, and Forgiveness. So far only that annoying Chastity had managed to stay hopeful that something could be done.
"I will break you eventually, Dashi." Pride growled.
"Oh, you've been a bad boy."
Pride whirled around to confront the speaker but found no one there. "That voice…" it seemed so familiar to him. He knew that voice from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. It had been so long since he'd heard anything like it. A mischievous sounding woman, it seemed like. Then it hit him. "Could it be…?"
"Papa's not going to be happy when he hears about what you've been up to." The voice snickered.
"Show yourself, witch!"
"Not so fast… wouldn't want to spoil the fun now would we?"
Pride was suddenly surrounded by a purple haze. This was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. He instantly shot his energy blade from his wrist and started hacking and slashing insanely at the haze, succeeding only in temporarily breaking it apart.
"Tsk tsk, not very smart anymore, are we? You of all people should know better than that."
"And you of all people should know better than to cross me." Pride growled. "Now face me, you coward. Fight me or go crying to him like you always used to!"
"Who are you talking to?"
Pride swung around again; ready to slash the speaker in half with his energy blade until he realized that it was Envy, returned from his mission along with Greed and Gluttony. Pride drew back his sword quickly and regained his previous, relaxed stance. "Where is the Virtue?" he demanded.
Greed tossed him a small glass bottle with a cork at its top. Inside the bottle was a teenage, Middle Eastern girl wearing a black dress with long sleeves and black veils over her mouth, nose, and hair. She was shrunk down to the size of a small doll. "Excellent work." Pride said.
"She is out little sister." Greed said, Gluttony nodding afterwards. "It was not hard to spot her."
"What was the name you called her?" Pride asked. "Charity, was it?"
"Ironic that Charity is the Virtue of Temperance, is it not?" Rush asked.
"My point exactly." Pride said, looking into Charity's eyes through the bottle and watching the hope drain away from her eyes just as he'd anticipated. "She'll be a nice little addition to my collection." With that the four of them vanished, leaving the tiny village below to burn.
In their place the purple haze manifested once again, this time taking the shape of a petite woman but showing no human features other than the shape. "Papa won't be very happy at all." It said before vanishing into the smoke from the village below.
TEMPLE RUINS
Jack gently touched the cloth rapped around the small stump where his right harm had once been and sighed. It had already been more than a day since Tubbimura amputated his arm and he was still in a lot of pain. He could barely stand yet, let alone walk or do much else.
"You feeling ok, honey?" Jack looked up to find Nina standing over him with a bowl of stew in her hand.
"I'm in severe pain, I can't think straight, and I'm missing an arm." Jack stated.
"Point taken." Nina chuckled, sitting down next to him. "Now eat this. Vlad say's it will help you heal more quickly." She lifted a spoon full of stew out of the bowl and fed it to Jack. Jack grimaced, not because the food was bad, but because he was being fed like a baby with twenty-six other people sitting around a fire less than ten yards away. "I know you hate this, but you don't really have a choice." Nina said.
"Yeah, yeah." Jack scowled. Nina just sighed and gave him another spoonful of stew. She figured that he'd be in a bad mood for a while so she might as well deal with it now.
"So, how's he doing?" This time it was Katnappe who was standing over them.
"Well, he's conscious." Nina joked. "It's a start at least."
Katnappe chuckled and then pulled back her hood, letting her golden blond hair fall down to her shoulders. She sat down on the other side of Jack. "How'd it happen?" she asked.
Nina sighed and was about to explain, but Jack beat her to it. "We were in Los Vegas, don't ask me how we got there because I don't know. The entire city was deserted, so I figured that I could steal some of the tech form the casino vaults to build a way to stop the Sins. It was a portal that would spread over the entire world but only take the Sins to some random dimension. Unfortunately my brother Gabriel, the Sin of Sloth, showed up. In a last minute escape attempt I sent Nina though and then made a few adjustments so that when I passed through it would close automatically. Gabriel tried to shut it sooner by shooting it, but I jumped in the way. We wandered around for days after that and I eventually passed out. The next thing I know fat ass over there was cutting my arm off."
"Wow… some story… I didn't even know you had a brother." Katnappe said.
"Haven't talked to that bastard in four years." Jack growled.
"That's enough of that." Nina broke in, knowing that the subject needed to be changed before it got out of hand. "Now c'mon, Jack, eat up." And she forced another spoonful of stew into his mouth. "So, what're they talking about over there?"
"They're planning." Katnappe said. "This is a resistance outpost now, so almost every moment it devoted to discussing how we're going to strike next."
"It's pointless, you know." Nina murmured. "I know… because I used to be one of them… You can fight, rebel, and resist all you want but the Sins will always win… There's only a handful of people on earth that even have a chance of stopping them."
"No one's immortal." Jack growled, using his remaining arm to push himself to his feet and then walk off into the woods.
"What was that?" Now it was Panda Bubba who was coming their way. "You say you used to be one of them?" he asked.
"Yes… but I left when I realized that I love Jack." She admitted. Katnappe grimaced at her choice of words.
"If you used to be one of them then you must know all of their secrets, their plans… their weaknesses…" He kneeled down in front of her and lightly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I want you to tell me everything you know."
LATER
"So, Jermaine, how did you end up here in China?" Omi asked. "I thought that the Sins had made intercontinental travel almost impossible." At the moment most of the former enemies of the monks, who were not temporary allies, were circled around the fire minding their own business. The monks however had separated themselves from the groups, along with Hamster, Jet, Jess, Guan and Jermaine.
"Actually, I was on my way to visit you guys when the Sins took over." Jermaine explained. "I ran into Guan in Beijing and we both joined the resistance outpost there. But then our leader, freaky panda guy, accidentally gave away the location of our base and we hightailed it out of there."
"Why were you in Beijing, Master Monk Guan?" Mimi questioned.
"After the events of the Ultimate Fighter Tournament I knew that it was only a matter of time before the Sin's took power. I ordered the people at my temple to seek shelter elsewhere. Meanwhile I set out on a journey to discover the way which Grand Master Dashi, Chase Young, Chief and myself defeated the Sin's fifteen hundred years ago."
"You mean you don't remember?" Saya asked.
"Unfortunately, I suffered a blow to the head, courtesy of the original Gluttony, and was in a comma during the months that lead up to that day… ironically I awoke the next day."
"I feel your pain, my friend…" Rai said sympathetically. "I barely remember you thanks to my own amnesia, but I feel your pain."
"Wait a minute, who's Chief?" Kimiko questioned.
"Oh yes. I had forgotten that you had not met all of my former team mates yet." Guan said. "Chief was one of the greatest fighters I have ever had the pleasure of fighting along side of… as well as sparing against. He hailed from a tribe in what is now Kenya. Originally he simply came to warn us about the impending threat of the Sins, but after the crew and ship that brought him to us was destroyed by one of them he vowed to avenge them and fought along side Dashi, Chase, and myself. In the end he was charged by Dashi to guard the statue we had imprisoned Pride in… and thus he still lives to this day… I doubt he's aged quite a gracefully as Chase or myself however."
"Well if he's supposed to be guarding Pride then why is that psychopath ruling the world right now?" Jet growled.
"It may have taken an immense magical force to imprison him, but it wouldn't take much more than a curious child to release him." Guan explained.
"Truer words have never been spoken, my friend." Hamster said.
"I think we've already established that Pride has been released." Julia said. "What we need to figure out now is how to get rid of him… perhaps permanently this time?
"Good luck with that." Clay said.
"Ya mind explaining your opinion there, Mr. Enthusiasm?" Elena asked sarcastically.
"It's simple, Elena." Clay said. "The last time he was defeated Guan wasn't around to witness it, we have no way of reaching this Chief guy, Dashi's been dead for a really long time, and Chase's been dead for a while too Thanks to my hot blond girlfriend here." Saya blushed and thanked him for the complement. "So how do ya expect to figure out how to beat him for good when we don't even know how they did it last time and they didn't even kill him last time?"
At this point Jess, who'd remained silent for most of the conversation, stood up and looked over towards the fire and the others. "All we can do is pray." She said before turning the other way and disappearing into the labyrinth of trees.
Not long after Jess left Panda Bubba walked over to them. "Raphael and I have devised a plan against the Sin of Lust that may actually work. Come and listen if you like, but if you do not wish to participate in the resistance then stay out of the way of those of us who do." Most of them nodded and got up to follow him. Rai, on the other hand stayed sitting where he was.
"You coming, Rai?" Kim asked.
Rai shook his head. "You guys can fill me in later. I think Jess needs someone to talk to right now… and Jet, her brother, obviously isn't going to be that person."
"Hey, I've been putting up with her mood swings for fifteen years now." Jet snapped. "It's someone else's turn now."
"Like he said." Rai agreed, standing up and starting towards the woods. "Catch up later, then."
Around the fire everyone waited for the Panda Bubba to return with the monks. They were all eager to hear Panda Bubba and Raphael's plan, even Jack who was obviously still depressed over his arm. As the resistance, it was their job to take down the Seven Deadly Sins any way possible and at all costs.
They all looked up as Panda Bubba returned with the monks and took his seat next to Raphael. The two of them had agreed to co-lead this outpost of the resistance. "My fellow rebellers, time and again countless resistance movements have tried and failed to take down even one of the Seven Deadly Sins." Panda Bubba announced. "But now we may have a way to strike back at them, successfully for the first time!"
"Over the next few months we shall send out messengers to persuade other nearby outposts to join us." Raphael continued. "We shall build an army and when everything is perfect, we shall stage a full frontal assault on the Sin of Lust's castle!"
At Raphael's words everyone started complaining and protesting. Many claimed that full frontal assaults had been tried too many times before and failed miserably every time. And many argued that even if an attack like that could work it would never work against the Sin of Lust. Many knew her personally and knew that she was to smart for that.
"Calm down!" Panda Bubba shouted. "You haven't hears the best part yet. The attack will just be a diversion. While and army is attacking the palace we will have a small group sneak in during the commotion and silently work their way into the center of the building. From there, if the monks would be kind enough to supply us with the Golden Tiger Claws, we shall open a portal and have a bomb planted there. Then, when we retreat, we shall detonate it, destroying the Sin of Lust's palace and taking her with it! Together, we shall liberate all of Asia!"
Everyone cheered and started chanting "Liberate Asia" as Panda Bubba and Raphael took in their moment of glory. "Now please, rest. For tomorrow, our plans begin." Raphael ordered. With that everyone scattered to their own camps. Once everyone was gone Raphael asked what was on his mind. "But what of the information that the girl told you?" he asked Panda Bubba.
"All in due time."
THE WOODS
Jess sighed as she looked up the night sky, there were stars everywhere that night and a full moon hung in the sky as well. She laughed at the irony; looking up to a star filled sky even though she knew full well that she was underground. She figured that either there was a very powerful magic around or God must really like this place. "Maybe this place really is Eden."
"Well, no true evil can enter this place, according to Omi at least, so maybe you're right."
Jess turned around to find Rai leaning against a tree. "Oh, hey Rai. Why aren't you with the others?"
Rai shrugged. "Figured you might need something to talk to. Your exit back at camp was kinda… let's just say we all know you're in a bad mood."
"So why didn't Jet come?"
"I believe his exact words were, 'I've been putting up with her mood swings for fifteen years now. It's someone else's turn.'"
Jess chuckled. "That sounds like Jet. He'll get out of anything when he can."
"So what's buggin' ya?" Rai asked.
"Oh, I don't know." Jess said. "I've just been thinking… I've lived on the streets for most of my life and I've been fine with it. For me, when the Sin's took over, life really didn't change that much. I'm still just a petty, homeless kid who's survived for most of my life on stolen fruit and small animals that Jet managed to catch and kill… and I don't care one bit. I'm fine with how my life is. It's just been my brother and me for so long… but now there are all these people in my life that care about me; you, Kimiko, Omi, Clay, Saya, Mimi, Julia, Elena… even that funny talking Hamster... you're all great friends now… I should be the happiest I've ever been… but for some reason I can't shake this feeling of misery hanging over my head… I don't know, maybe it's just my time of the month."
"Or maybe you're home sick." Rai suggested. Jess just gave him a questioning look. "Think about it, you're life is exactly the same for the most part, unless you count the obvious x-factor of the Sins ruling the world now. And like you said, you have all these friends now so that's a big plus… what's the one difference other than those two things?"
Then it dawned on her. "I'm not in Rome anymore."
"Exactly. You just miss the familiar surroundings. I was the exact same way when I… first came to… the… temple…" The both stood there silently in complete shock when they realized what had just happened. "Did I just…" Jess nodded. "I remembered my first day at the temple!"
"I'm so happy for you, Rai." Jess said, giving her friend a tight hug. "Do you remember anything else?"
Rai shook his head. "Still is amazing. It may be taking a while, but my memories coming back!... I've gotta go find Kimiko."
"Go on. Have you're moment." Jess said, smiling at him. "I'm fine now." Rai nodded and ran off. She really was happy for her friend, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the same time. He'd only regained two memories so far but with every one he seemed less and less like the Rai she knew. She sighed and looked back up to the sky, focusing on the moon. "Why are you testing me?"