Chapter 3: The Present: The Key of Hades

When Dojo landed in a back ally on the streets of London, Jack's plane landing nearby in stealth mode, no one was surprised to find that Chase had already arrived there. However, Riku wasn't with him, which worried Dojo's passengers. As Dojo shrank down from his flight form, Kim and Rai lead the others over to Chase to confront him. "Where's Riku, Chase?" Kim demanded.

"Unfortunately, I believe your future child will not be joining us." Chase said nonchalantly.

Chase gave no resistance as Rai and Clay moved forward and pinned him against a wall. "Listen, lizard breath." Rai growled. "You'd better tell us where he is before I rip your tongue out so you never get the chance."

"I assure you, I have nothing to do with his disappearance." Chase said.

"Why should we trust you, ya varmint?" Clay growled.

"Because if I were behind this you all would have vanished without a trace, don't you thing?" Chase stated flatly.

Rai and Clay glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing, and then let Chase go. "Yeah, I'll buy that." Rai said. "But if we find out you're lying then consider yourself as good as dead."

"Noted." Chase agreed as Jack and Nina arrived. "Now follow me. Our goal is not far."

~ELSEWHERE~

"There's no way that was a trick of the light, mum. There was no light!"

"Ino, you're being unreasonable." Her mother insisted. "Just listen to me. I think I know more about your fathers work than you do."

Ino and her mother had been arguing since late last night when the copper key in Ino's room had begun to glow with a dark light. Ino could tell that most of what she'd said so far was nothing but lies, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what she was trying to cover up. "Mum, I'm not a stupid little kid anymore." Ino said. "I can tell when you're not telling me something. Why don't you just give up and tell me what's up with that key?"

Rukia sighed. She hated when her daughter was this stubborn, especially when it came to topics concerning her father. "I'm not hiding anything from you." She lied. "Whatever you saw last night must have been a trick of the light… either that or you were hallucinating and need to see a doctor."

"I was not hallucinating."

"Then it was a trick of the light."

"You're a trick of the light."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't care."

There it was. Ino makes a bad joke and Rukia calls her on it. When this happened it usually mean that they were done fighting even if the issue wasn't resolved. The issue would come up again later, but it was dropped for now. A knock came at the door and Rukia got up to answer it. But as she opened the door she could barely stop herself from swearing when she saw who was on the other side. "Hello, dear Rukia." said Chase Young, ten teenagers and a small dragon standing behind him. "Is my daughter around?"

Ino snapped her attention to the door when she heard what he'd said.

~YIN-YANG WORLD~

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't… wouldn't ya say, Yingy?"

The Yin-Yang bird, sitting on the suit of armors shoulder, squawked in agreement as Hannibal, sitting inside the armors head, contemplated his next move. With Lilith becoming a more viable threat in his eyes, and already a very big threat to Chase and Wuya, he was considering forming yet another temporary alliance with the pesky monks for the greater good… or, rather, to save his own hide. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I suppose… but in this case the enemy of my enemy is more like a school of piranhas… constantly devouring anything that happens to fall into the rivers that are my plans… perhaps making an alliance with the other enemy would be worth my while. Yingy?"

The bird ruffled its feathers and shook its head.

"I suppose you're right." Hannibal agreed. "I may have no quarrel with this Lilith, but this world belongs to me and I suspect that making an alliance only to double cross her would be suicide." He sighed. "Again. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"Perhaps not."

Hannibal turned his armor's head towards the direction of the voice, finding a man in a ninja suit with glowing read eyes standing not far off. "You have the stench of demon upon you." Hannibal said. "No doubt one of Lilith's flunkies… but theirs something familiar about you, stranger. Have we met in a past life?"

"The current for you, the past for me." He answered. "In my previous life I was one of the monks you despise so greatly. I went by the name of Rush."

"Yes, I remember you." Hannibal acknowledged. "You became the Sin of Envy but ultimately sacrificed yourself in an attempt to kill the Sin of Pride. Noble but foolish."

"And now neither." Rush said, coming close to Hannibal. The Yin-Yang Bird squawked and spread its wings, trying to look menacing, but Hannibal shooed it away. The bird reluctantly flew off. "My mistress has revived me and shown me the error of my ways. This world rightfully belongs to the demons of old… which includes you, Hannibal."

"Indeed." Hannibal growled, glaring at him. "A bean I may be but an idiot I am not. What could Lilith possible have to gain from me siding with her?"

Rush shrugged, but if he'd had a mouth he would've grinned menacingly. "The support of a long lost brother, perhaps?"

"I am not the Sin of Pride."

"Nor am I the Sin of Envy."

"I grow tired of this game, child. I have no interest in an alliance with you or your Mistress. I believe I will sit this battle out and simply observe."

Rush chuckled and drew his katana swords from the sheaths on his back. "I was hoping you'd say that. It will be much easier this way."

"Maybe on the backwards world you demons come from!" Hannibal shouted as his armor charged at Rush, a sword with a blade as long as a car and nearly half as wide appearing in his hands. He swung the great blade down at Rush who was easily able to stop it with his own swords, miniscule by comparison.

"You mean where we come from." Rush corrected.

"I am not one of you!" Hannibal protested.

"Aren't you?"

Hannibal jumped back, away from his opponent who remained stationary. But the second Hannibal's feet hit the ground Rush vanished and he felt a foot hit his back, knocking him to the ground. Hannibal rolled over to defend himself but quickly found Rush on top of him, hacking and slashing his katanas away at Hannibal's chest plate. Hannibal laughed. "Fool! Steel feels no pain!"

"Neither does a bean!" Rush shouted as he took one of his blades and stabbed it into the eye hole of Hannibal's helmet, barely missing the bean inside. Hannibal growled and threw Rush off of him, jumping back to his feet and going in for another attack. Rush was barely back on his feet when Hannibal's massive blade down upon him, knocking him further away. Hannibal came at him again and again and again, and each time the blade came down on Rush he stood there and took it and it only knocked him away.

"What is that suit made of?" Hannibal demanded. "This blade should've cut clean through you!"

Rush only chuckled. "I believe you're the one that said steel feels no pain."

Enraged at his words, Hannibal charged at his opponent again. Rush did the same. But when they met, instead of coming to another deadlock, Rush jumped over Hannibal's attack, spinning through the air and, when in the right position just behind Hannibal, cutting the head of Hannibal's armor clean off. The armor's body dropped its blade before falling to the ground. Rush chuckled in his victor and kicked up the helmet, reaching inside and pulling the tiny being within out. "Such a pesky little nuisance." Rush said as he eyed the bean clutched in his fist. "Perhaps Mistress was wrong in wanting your aid."

"She was wrong to think I would come willingly." Hannibal growled.

"Who said she thought that?" Rush inquired. "I said it would be easier if we fought, did I not?" Hannibal merely glared at him. Rush raised his hand and pressed the tip of his index finger against Hannibal's forehead. "Now you're going to serve my Mistress whether you like it or not… which I doubt you'll be conscious enough to even think about."

Hannibal suddenly found himself in a very different reality. He appeared to be in an old black and white movie, but he knew these images to have once been real, as he was there when they happened… in a way.

Dashi, Guan, and Chase before he turned to the dark side. These three stood in a bean field, weapons in hand and waiting for their enemy to make the first move. A colossal figure stood before them, so massive that its head was hidden in the clouds. Their enemy wore little more than a loin cloth and carried a gigantic kanabo, a spiked club, in its hand. The three warriors attacked their great foe and the battle raged long and fiercely. Eventually Guan managed to wound their enemy, cutting into it with his spear. The colossal being let out an unearthly cry as some blood spilled out of the gash, landing amongst the beans all around them.

Truly the beginning of a great era of evil.

The blood from the colossal beast seeped into the ground and was absorbed into the roots of one of the bean plants. Quickly a reaction began, as a single bean began to mutate; eyes, tentacles, and a mouth sprouting. The birth, of Hannibal Roy Bean.

Those were the last conscious thoughts Hannibal had as Rush pumped Lilith's evil influence into his being. Now there was no Hannibal Roy Bean, only another mindless puppet. Pleased with his work, Rush placed the bean back into the helmet and reattached it to the body of the armor. Regaining its ability to move, the armor stood and faced Rush, its great sword disappearing. "Anything to say?" Rush questioned.

Hannibal only chuckled. "The mistress will be very pleased with you."

Rush nodded in agreement. "As with you."

~CHINA~

A quiet mountain peak, wind wailing in the distance, clouds just below blocking the view of the rest of the range. Just a few yards across from this peak was another, identical one. Though old, ancient in fact, there were some clear battle scars from a previous clash fought out upon these two peaks. A sudden burst of green flames appeared atop one mountain, Wuya stepping out of it and looking out to the other mountain. She looked down and sighed. Kneeling, she placed her palm on a dark ring on the mountain rock and remembered how it was made.

She remembered it all too well.

"Eye of Dashi!"

A bolt of lightning shot out over the canyon separating them, Wuya deflecting it with her bare hand. The lightning split apart, on shot hitting the ground at her feet while the rest shot off into the sky. Wuya then engulfed her hands in green flames and clapped them together, shooting a fireball at the man across the mountain range: none other that Grand Master Dashi himself. "Sphere of Yun!" he called out, holding the Shen Gong Wu and creating a protective sphere of light around him, blocking Wuya's attack. The sphere dissipated as the flames dissipated and there was a brief pause in the battle. "Why are you doing this, Wuya?" Dashi called. "We were happy before! Why would you do this when I've shown you nothing but kindness and love?"

"Shut up!" Wuya snarled back. "You speak of happiness and love, but you betrayed me! Why am I doing this? Because you showed me that there is darkness in everyone… and I am here to bring it to the surface!"

"Wuya, please!"

"No, Dashi! I am no longer the woman you loved. I am a Heylin witch… and I shall stay as such."

Dashi growled as tears began rolling down his cheeks. "Then you leave me no choice." He knelt down and took a few small rocks and pebbles into his hand. Standing again, the stones began to glow. When the light faded and puzzle box had replaced the stones. He quickly opened it and held it out in her direction. Wuya felt herself lose control of her muscles and rise into the air. She saw her body fade away into a ghostly purple figure. Then a great wind blew up and she was pulled toward Dashi to be trapped inside that puzzle box for fifteen hundred years.

Wuya stood again as she returned from her memories to the real world and began to cry, her tears hitting the dark circle on the rocks at her feet. "Why, Dashi… why did you hurt me so?" she asked before disappearing in a burst of green flames.

~LONDON~

"Ah, that must be her over there." Chase said as he pushed his way passed Rukia and went inside, the others following after him. Mimi apologized to the woman for barging into her home, but swore it was of the utmost importance. Rukia followed the twelve of them into the kitchen where Ino still sat, staring in awe at the man who claimed to be her father. "So what is your name?" Chase asked her.

"I-Ino." She stuttered, still awe struck. "You're my father?" he asked.

"That depends on your definition of father." Chase said. "Now stand. Let's take a look at you."

Ino was somewhat insulted by Chase thinking he could just order her around, and yet she felt compelled to listen to him. She simply shook off the odd behavior, blaming it on her mixed feelings at her father's sudden appearance. She stood and Chase began to circle her slowly, looking her over from top to bottom. Not in a lingering, perverted way, but more like he was sizing her up like livestock. He seemed pleased. As he came back to her front he took her chin in his hand and looked directly into her eyes, spotting the mixture of outrage and confusion. "You've done well, Rukia." He said.

"Only as you told me, Chase." Ino's mother answered obediently.

"No, there's something more." Chase said, letting go of Ino and walking over to Rukia. "I see care, devotion… love."

"She is my daughter. How else am I supposed to raise her?"

Chase ignored the question and turned back to Ino. "Enough pleasantries. We are here on business. Ino, I've come to reclaim the key I left with you as an infant. Would you kindly go fetch it for me?"

"No." Ino said, glaring at him.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not going to give the key to you. You can't possible be my father." Chase gave her a questioning gaze. "You're, what, twenty-five? I'm sixteen. That would've made you nine at the time of my conception. I'm pretty sure that's not possible."

"I am older that I appear, child." Chase growled. "Now go fetch the Key of Hades before someone less pleasant comes for it. It is of the utmost importance that it remains in safe hands."

"Try and make me." Ino replied, glaring back at him.

"This could get ugly." Dojo said from atop Clay's hat.

He had no idea how right he was.

A dark orb suddenly appeared over the kitchen table, rapidly condensing into a single point before expanding and dissipating, the resulting shockwave knocking everyone in the building off their feet. Rai was the first to get a look at what happened. A young man now stood on the table. Very pale skin, raven hair and dark angel wings, clad only in tattered pants, and carrying a black scimitar that Rai was too familiar with. "Knock, knock." This newcomer said with a dark chuckle.

"Rai…" Kim said as she looked up at the stranger. "That guy looks a lot like—"

"Him?" the stranger questioned, pointing his blade at Rai. "I should. I was a part of him once… and soon he will be a part of me. But for now I've come for the Key of Hades… and I suppose I'll kill all of you."

"Only if you can kill me first!"

Chase came at Rai's doppelganger fast as lightning to deliver a kick but the attack was blocked by Dark Rai's arm. Dark Rai then took his blade and slashed at Chase who easily dodged it. But as his blade cut through the air a wave of dark energy shot out across the room, passing through everyone except Ino, Chase, and Rukia without harm. But when it hit the wall behind all of them it seemed to cut into it, opening a rift to a pitch black place. As Chase and Dark Rai continued to fight several black hands reached up from the other side of the rift and dark, shadowy versions of everyone the wave had touched crawled out. Kim, Clay, Omi, Saya, Mimi, Julia, Elena, Jack, Nina, and even a shadowy doppelganger of Dojo emerged. But a dark form of Rai was absent… or, rather, already present.

"Oh look, reinforcements! My favorite!" Dark Rai laughed as he brought his blade down on the refrigerator, Chase having just dodged the attack. "Darklings, take care of the rest of them!"

The Darklings obeyed Dark Rai without question and attacked their human counterparts. "Dojo, make sure Ino and Rukia stay safe!" Clay ordered as he grabbed the dragon from his hat and tossed him over to the two women. As soon as he turned back his jaw met the knuckles of his shadowy counterpart. Clay fell to the floor and Saya immediately rushed to his aid but was unable to help him before her own Darkling tackled her, pinning her to the floor.

Saya's Darkling gazed down to the identical girl beneath her with hunger in her eyes. "You look… tasty." The Darkling said. "Consuming you is going to be oh so sweet." But before she could make another move Saya's Darkling was thrown off of her, Clay grabbing the Darkling and tossing her aside.

"You okay, baby?" he asked as he helped Saya to her feet.

"Yes, other than the disturbing images of that thing cannibalizing me." Saya said.

It was then that the couple's Darklings surrounded them. Clay and Saya stood back to back as their shadowy doppelgangers circled them. Thinking quickly, Clay and Saya reached into the magic satchel that every cartoon character seems to have (1) and retrieved their Shen Gong Wu.

"Fist of Tebigong!"

"Thorn of Thunderbolt!"

The others were dealing with their own Darklings with difficulty. Omi and Mimi took on their Darklings with the Jet Bootsu and the Tangle Web Comb only to find that the Darklings could walk on walls and were too fast for the Comb to actually catch. Julia and Elena, with the Monkey Staff and Mantis Flip Coin, found that the Darklings were just as agile without the aid of Shen Gong Wu. Jack, having upgraded his robotic arm to transform into both a blaster and a blade, and Nina, with a similar weapon of Jack's design, battled their counterparts without Shen Gong Wu. And Kim and Rai took on Kim's Darkling and Dojo's Darkling with the Star Hanabi and the Canine Crossbow, but again their efforts were fruitless as the Darklings proved their skills.

Meanwhile, Dojo had grown mid way between his flying and regular sizes and was dragging Rukia and Ino upstairs for their protection as their home was destroyed by the battle below. Both were too terrified to argue with him, or even to question the fact that they were being saved by a dragon. "Quick! Where's the Key of Hades?" Dojo asked.

"It's hanging on the wall in my room." Ino answered without a second thought. "First door on the right."

Back down stairs Dark Rai brought his blade down on upon the kitchen table as Chase jumped back to avoid it. The table destroyed, Chase grabbed one of the legs and swung it at his opponent, the wooden leg shattering over his head. Dark Rai stumbled back and clutched his face. His jaw was broken and one of his cheeks were ripped open, but Dark Rai only laughed as the wounds healed almost instantly and the bones in his jaw bonded back together. "Not bad." He said. "Maybe destroying you was a hasty decision… Care to take up an offer?"

"The only offer I will take this day is your unconditional surrender." Chase growled.

Dark Rai grinned. "Fine then. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Fast as lightning, Dark Rai moved in front of Chase in an instant and grabbed Chase by the throat, lifting him up and pinning him against the wall. Chase didn't struggle to free himself, knowing it would be a pointless effort. "Any last words?"

"Go to hell." Chase growled.

Suddenly Dark Rai was hit by a pulse of energy from Chase's body and was thrown back, hitting the wall on the other side. The fighting in the other room between the monks and their Darklings ceased as the house started to rumble. Cracks appeared in the ceiling and walls as the house collapsed. Upstairs, Dojo grabbed the Key of Hades before flying Ino and Rukia out a window. The monks, Jack, and Nina rushed out the nearest window or door while the Darklings simply vanished. Chase collapsed onto his hands and knees while Dark Rai simply dusted himself off as the house began to crumble around them. "What was that?" Dark Rai questioned with a laugh.

"That was nothing." Chase said, staggering back to his feet. "I just needed to get them out of here before I could do this!" a sphere of pure energy appeared in Chases hand and he dropped back to his knees, slamming the ball into the floor.

Outside, Dojo had barely landed with the others when what remained of the house was decimated by a sudden burst of energy. Every building within five blocks was completely destroyed and anyone in the immediate area was blown away. Omi protected his friends, Rukia, and Ino in the Sphere of Yun. Safely inside, they saw Dark Rai thrown into the air by the blast, landing far out of sight. When the dust from all of the destruction cleared, everything around was little more than rubble. Houses destroyed, trees uprooted and split in half, and many, many people were hurt badly. Omi deactivated the Sphere of Yun and Mimi pulled out the Chiyu Box. Everyone took a handful of the magic healing tablets within and went off to help anyone they could, but Rai stayed behind to watch over Rukia and Ino, both to protect them and to make sure that Dark Rai didn't get his hands on the Key of Hades, thinking his evil doppelganger was still alive.

And he was.

Dark Rai came flying back within minutes. He landed where Rukia and Ino's home once stood and lifted up the remnants of the roof, tossing it aside to find Chase lying there, dying but still barely alive. "Tell me you weren't trying to kill me." He laughed. "Ended up killing yourself instead."

"That's what happens when you put your entire being into an attack." Chase coughed.

"Collapsing building probably didn't help." Dark Rai chuckled. "Now hold still. This won't hurt a bit."

"Too late. You'll never take me alive."

Dark Rai could only laugh some more. "Who said I needed you alive?"

As Dark Rai knelt down and pressed his palm against Chase's forehead, Chase let out one last sigh of breath as his body went limp and lifeless. But as quickly has he had died Chase's eyes snapped back open. His face grew into a long snout as scales appeared allover his body and a tail manifested. As he finished his reptilian transformation it was clear that Chase's consciousness was no longer present as his now reptilian body gained a more beastly demeanor.

"This is bad." Rai said as both Dark Rai and Chase started towards them, Chase on all fours like an animal. "This is very bad." Rai didn't know what to do. Chase Young, the Chase Young, had died fighting Rai's dark counterpart. There was no way he could take on both of them.

"Get out of the way, boy."

Rai looked over his shoulder to find Rukia pointing the Key of Hades directly at him. Rai quickly jumped off to the side as Rukia called out its name. "Key of Hades!" Two beams of light shot out directly at Dark Rai and Chase, striking them both in the chest. She'd thought she'd finished them, but when the light passed right through them and went back to the key she lost all hope. Dark Rai burst into laughter. "Stupid woman!" he cackled. "Neither of us have souls to steal!"

Dark Rai then snapped his fingers and Chase snarled and lunged at Rukia, pouncing on her before slashing his claws into her chest biting into her throat. Rukia let out one blood curdling scream before going limp, dead. Ino was too stunned to cry. But she did notice the Key of Hades now sitting at her feet and mindlessly picked it up. Chase sensed this and his tail lashed out, the end wrapping around it at the same time that Rai and his evil counterpart grabbed it as well. All four with a secure grip, the key began to glow. "Hand over the Key of Hades or perish!" Dark Rai ordered.

"No." Rai growled back. "You want it; you're going to have to win it. I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"

(a/n) thats right. a xiaolin showdown. who honestly saw it coming? wait, I know what youre thinking. "Whatre you talking about? Im more concerned about Chases death/resurection/side switch." lol.

but seriously. Ive come to realize that my previous stories kind of strayed away from the show a little too much, expecially after the Fifth Dragon... actually, I think it was about half way through Seven Sins *shrugs*. anyway, Im trying to get back to the way the show was a little more while still maintaining my own influence. so Showdowns and Shen Gong Wu are going to be previlent this time around. any questions? feel free to ask. also, feel free to groan and complain that you have to wait 2 chapters to see the showdown. XP

(1) for those of you that dont know, a magic satchel is the term used when a cartoon character pulls an object out of nowhere