Chapter 2: Battle

"Fuu, this came around quicker than I thought." Rhea took a deep breath, gripping the gold hilt of the black blade she had at her waist for comfort, before she strode out onto the stage. The Yoyogi National Stadium in Shibuya wasn't large but all thirteen thousand seats where full. Rhea was most surprised, more people liked martial arts than she thought. "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to my first and hopefully not my last tournament!" the crowd cheered loudly. "I'd like to thank you all for attending and a thank you for all my contestants for entering. The first three matches will be a 'free-for-all' the ones that remain at the end of the timer will be put through to the next round. So Good luck!" another cheer from the crowd and she took her leave as the first fifty fighters took to the stage.

"RHEA!" contest holder spun around to have a red haired goth pounce on her.

"Hey Jack-chan." She hugged Jack, "I'm glad you could come."

"Hey I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Where Wuya?" She questioned noticing that her friend was lacking one annoying ghost.

"She's with Chase." He stated as if it was common knowledge.

"Chase?" A name she hadn't heard before.

"Super evil guy he's awesome. They don't know I'm here. Wuya forgot about it." Jack sighed "Anyway forgot about her I brought you something for luck." He handed Rhea a hefty box, which contained a three quarter length deep blue brocade cheongsam with a silver sash.

"O thank you so much Jack." She grinned, fluffing his hair so much his goggles fell over his eyes. "I'm going to change now." And with that she headed off down the corridor.

After meeting with his close friend Rhea, Jack headed back to his reserved seat, stopping at the refreshment stands on the way.

"Quickly I just saw Jack Spicer!"

Looking around in a flurry he spotted the four Xiaolin warriors, they too spotted him and he took that as a sign to run, making it past the V.I.P guards near his box. "That was close." He sighed closing the door behind him.

The tournaments next stage started, this time standard one on one battles. These went by quicker than Jack had thought. After this stage there was another free for all which narrowed down the thirty-eight competitors to sixteen. Now the serious fighting was going to begin. The sixteen remaining fighters were called to the stage to draw lots from a box to see who they would fight.

"So this is where you are worm." Jack shrieked at the immortal which appeared in his box.

"Chase, good to see you...o it's started." The evil boy genius trailed off as he noticed the fights were going to begin. The crowd began to murmur. As a young woman with long dusty pink braided hair, one bang dyed blue: took to the stage.

"Yes, yes. I know I shouldn't be fighting but it seems one of our fighters as suddenly dropped out and I will take his place." Rhea's opponent took to the stage.

"Isn't that Omi?" Wuya gestured to the small bald headed monk.

"KICK HIS ASS, RHEA!" Jack cheered loudly.

"Wait a moment. That girl possesses two Shen gong wo." Wuya blurted out, noticing the relics hanging at Rhea's waist.

"Really? She's had those years."

"I won't go easy on you, kid." Rhea warned, dropping into her Shequan stance.

"BEGIN!"

Omi leapt into battle first yelling 'Monkey Strike' as he flew at her.

Rhea focused entirely on Omi and his many openings. Her pointed palms extended forward with such force it caught the young monk off guard. Omi landed regaining his composition before he moved into another barrage. Rhea's stance was unchanging her feet never leaving the ground for more than a few seconds to strike, which were precise and accurate. Her persona was that of a cobra. After ten minutes of constant moving, Rhea decided it was time to end it and lunged forward into a barrage, forcing the bald monk out of the ring.

"WINNER RHEA KIYOSAWA!" she bowed to the ref then promptly left the arena.

"Woah dude, that was intense. You wiped the floor with Omi." Raimundo stated loudly, patting Rhea on the back.

Omi scowled at his taller monk "No-one used me to clean the floor! It was a good match. Though not good enough since I did not win."

"Don't worry, there will more tournaments in the future." Rhea smiled.

"You have gotten stronger Rhea." Her old master commented finally joining the conversation.

"Thank you Master Fung."

"Oh, that's right. You should best be on your guard Rhea ma'am." Clay warned tipping his hat.

"Eh? Why?"

"We saw Jack Spicer hanging around." Kimiko explained.

"He's evil!" Omi chipped in dramatically.

"I know. I invited him." She smirked at the monks shocked faces, Omi jumped up in her face.

"Why would you do something like that?" he shouted, Rhea forced the bald monk off her before replying.

"Jack's a close friend. Besides he's harmless." Rhea shrugged and quickly changed the subject "You best be off Raimundo, your battle is about to start."

"Heh, so it is." With that Rhea left the monks and headed towards the foyer, where she was grabbed by a few reporters. Giving a quick interview she managed to escaped towards the V.I.P boxes.

Pushing open the door, she chirped "Hey, Jack-chan!" her eyes fell on someone other than Jack. A tall dark haired man, dressed in armour and had the most captivating golden eyes. 'Shit wrong box'

"Oh, hey Rhea!" the red haired genius leaned back in his chair to greet her.

"For a minute there I thought I had the wrong box." She chuckled nervously, closing the door behind her.

"Rhea, this is Chase."

She bowed suddenly to Chase, "Jack-chan spoke of you. Thank you for putting up with him, I know he's a handful." She sounded like his mother.

"Heeey!" Jack whined.

"What have I told you about whining?" Rhea questioned, tapping him on the head like a naughty puppy.

"Don't do it." Jack pouted, being embarrassed like this in front of his idol Chase Young.

"Exactly" she took residence on one of the comfy looking chairs, removing her blade so she could sit. "So enjoying the festivities?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically, "you gave cheese ball a right beating." He attempted to recreate the fight.

"Do you know said cheese ball? Because they seem to know you" Rhea questioned curiously, swinging her legs over the arm of the chair.

"Yeah they always get in the way of my evil plans."

"Jack you couldn't do anything right even if it jumped in front of you with instructions." Wuya wasn't very supportive of the young genius.

"You know for a ghost that managed to get sealed away in a puzzle box for god knows how many years, you're quite bitchy." Rhea took an immediate dislike to Wuya. "What was it again...Wuhoo?"

"It's Wuya."

"Loozah?" Rhea sniggered as the old ghost witch got very annoyed.

"Insolent girl."

"Old hag." Rhea looked over to Jack who looked terrified at the argument "Hey Jack-chan, do you not have the box so we can put the old bat to rest? Or at least a mute button?"

"If I were in my original form, you wouldn't be so confident!" Wuya boasted angrily.

"Well the fact is you're not and I don't take threats from disembodied old people seriously." Rhea moved from her chair. "Later Jack-chan. I got some more work to do." She waved and left.

"You should have asked about the Shen gong wu." Jack remained.