A/N: Holy jesus. Long time no see people. Really sorry ._.
20:
Meditation was not a strong point for Rhea, the concept of sitting in one position for hours on end bored her excessively. But it was Chase's orders for her to meditate with her wudai weapon, to form a closer bond with her chosen weapon would naturally generate a greater power and ability to wield it. The Dragon's Guise and Sapphire Horn sat in front of Rhea, who was still sat in the pit of blazing azure flames. She tried to control her breathing and clear her mind of all unnecessary thoughts but it seemed impossible. Sighing irritably she opened her eyes and stretched her arms above her head
"I hate meditating" Rhea huffed picking up the wu "why won't you connect with me? Stupid thing" sighing again she closed her eyes only to feel her flames twist violently out of her control. Snapping her eyes open, Rhea's legs had gone numb from being sat down and let her rise to one knee and that was still with some effort. The flames still burned brightly around her, but several plumes had taken on the form of a large Chinese dragon, it's scales were solid sapphire and glimmered in the light of the flames surrounding it.
"Do not blame your inadequacy on me, mortal" the dragon spoke to her with a deep hollow voice which made her tremble,
Rhea refused to show her fear to the dragon and spoke confidently "Who are you?"
the dragon scoffed at her "you wield me and do not even know my true name? impudent child"
Rhea frowned and looked down at the two items she was clutching with dear life "I should have guessed it, Sapphire Dragon" it nodded slightly at her. The shen gong wu glowed suddenly making Rhea shy away from them, they changed form into slate blue shackles and chains vanishing into the flames.
"you tore my body apart for your own selfish needs" the Sapphire dragon stared down with its glazed over eyes "Why should I lend you my strength?"
The young woman breathed deeply "are we not kindred spirits? We share the same flame"
The sapphire dragon roared loudly shaking the entire room "We are no such thing mortal. Your flames will never match my own. So I ask you again why should I help you?"
Rhea found the feeling in her legs again and rose to her feet the shackles became longer as she did so, "you are right. We could never be kindred spirits...after all I am human and you are a statue"
The dragon released its might fire breath upon the arrogant woman "You dare mock me?"Rhea didn't fight the flames and simply parted it with her own,
"Is it not the truth?" Rhea stared up at the dragon with overwhelming confidence "you lost your true power when you were bound in the form of a soot covered ornament" the beast watched her closely as Rhea forcefully shattered the shackles binding her wrists "I only seek your power temporarily, I know of a way to return you to your body, lend me your assistance for a time and at the end I will return you to your true glory"
Narrowing its azure eyes at the monk the dragon replied "why should I place trust in you?"
Rhea shrugged "what have you got to lose?"
"I wish to test your might before I continue to loan you my power"
Rhea placed a fist against an open palm and bowed to the beast before dropping down into her dragon stance "I accept your challenge"
Shibuya was still under siege by the mindless rioters, though they had grown in number with no help from Siren who watched the scenes unfold from the comfort of Rayne's office. Normal people had joined the riots for whatever reasons. Rhea had successfully unleashed pandemonium on the city and it showed no sign of stopping. Rayne rose quickly from her office chair and pulled out her trusty revolver,
"I don't appreciate people barging into my office" she glared at the pale woman leaning nonchalantly on her door,
"I'm here for the shen gong wu"
Rayne narrowed her eyes and fired a bullet next to her head "why should I give anything to you?"
"Wuya what's your problem?" Siren asked not bothering to move from her chair
"Wuya? oh is this the old hag Rhea was on about?"
Siren nodded "that's her"
The heylin witch frowned at the pair of hostesses, Rayne still pointing her gun at her "Put your toy away, it cannot harm me"
"That's a lie and you know it" Siren scoffed "I heard Chase restored your body and nothing more. No magic nothing. You're currently an old woman with no sense of fashion"
Wuya clicked her tongue and left the room,
"that was too easy" Rayne lowered her gun and sat back down in her chair, Siren picked up the zing-zom-bone from the desk "where are you going with that?" Rayne asked curiously
"That old bat left without any sort of fight, she's got plans. I'm going to hide this. I'll warn you though, you might get visitors soon" Siren walked over to the window and jumped out of it letting her wings flutter through the wind lifting her off into the sky.
Rhea jolted herself awake, the room around her was as she left it. So she did manage to meditate successfully for once. The ordeal with the Sapphire dragon had left her breathless, the flames that had been blazing were now solid sapphire and a new weapon laid before her a kwan do, with an the staff was a deep shade of blue and had a dragon spiralling around it, the blade held a slight blue tint and lacked the usual dorsal hook and saw blades which had been replaced by nine rings along the spine. Picking up the spear she heard the dragons voice in her head
"Do not disappoint me."
Rhea had not lost the fight with the dragon but she hadn't won either
"This weapon suits me better" she smirked spinning the blade around getting a good feel for it. Jumping out of the pit ignoring the blisters on the bottom of her feet from her previous training lesson, she was greeted by Yuki who sat quietly by the door,
"Hey Yuki" the leopard shifted into her human form to talk to Rhea
"If you go to battle, take me with you"
"Of course. I wouldn't think of going without you."
After being denied the wu by Rhea's long time friend Rayne. Wuya decided to remove the underlying problem in her quest for power: Rhea. She had been a thorn in her side for some time and kept her plans to herself but Chase trusted her completely unlike Wuya. The Heylin witch appeared before the xiaolin monks which made them go into a sudden panic.
"What do you want Wuya" Omi snapped rushing towards her, he had learned to attack the witch on sight.
"Wouldn't you like to know where the Zing-zom-bone is?"
"And why would you tell us?" Kimiko asked cautiously nothing good ever came from Wuya,
"that's not really important is it? All you need to know is that your good friend Rhea has the wu and you can find her with Chase." And just like that the witch left as quickly as she'd arrived.
"Should we believe her?" they were all sceptical but they didn't have much else to go on,
"I think she'll know something . So let's go pay her a visit."
Rhea sat in the training room meditating, she had a sinking feeling her world was going to come crashing down around her. When or how was a different matter. The last words of the Sapphire dragon lingered in the back of her mind.
Never doubt. Losing is not an option.
Swallowing all her worries and doubt, Rhea rose to her feet psychically and mentally prepared for this confrontation. Chase met her at the foot of the stone staircase
"You have come far since you first arrived. Do not disappoint me Rhea" he warned watching her closely as she ventured towards the entrance. 'No pressure' Yuki awaited her at the ledge and companioned her into the forest. Rhea sat on a tree stump in a clearing and awaited the monks. They would come she knew they would. She had the means to an end.
The monks arrived in haste confronting Rhea in the forest. Only Omi was still surprised to see her there: he was still trying to deny everything.
"Rhea! Why did you join the side of evil? I thought you were such a good person" Omi demanded answers refusing to attack the older warrior. Rhea stayed sat down on the tree stump with Yuki at her heels,
"Do I need a reason?" she rose to her feet and summoned her weapon the sapphire kwan-do in a blaze of blue fire "It's beneficial to me and that's all you need to know" Rhea continued shifting into her fighting stance "And you are all currently in my way" she leapt forward bringing the fight to them
"Omi if you can't fight get out the way" Raimundo shouted jumping in front of Omi blocking Rhea's attack
"I knew you couldn't be trusted" he hissed pushing Rhea back. She chuckled spinning her weapon around with ease
"And you did nothing to stop me" The spear stopped spinning and the end was slammed into the earth making the rings across the blade snap loudly against the metal resonating a deafening dragon roar. The monks covered their ears and fell to the floor
"What do you fight for?" Rhea asked not attacking them as they lay on the floor squirming
"To protect others!" Kimiko replied struggling to her feet "That's what we do"
"We protect them from evil people like you!" Raimundo added brandishing his sword at her again.
"You know there is a fine fine line between good and evil and when you realise that you'll find it harder to protect people" Blue flames started to gather around the blade of the Kwan-do
"Azure Tempest!" Rhea swung the kwan-do firing the blaze at the group who barley dodged it, "Is that the best you've got?" She sighed audibly shouldering her blade "I bust my back training for this? You guys aren't even worth it. Come back when you've got better. I wanted a real fight" she mocked turning her back on them.
"Come back here!" the wind dragon lost his temper and lunged at the woman his blade raised "I'll kill you for what you've done!" Rhea turned round nonchalantly taking the blow head on. Raimundo's blade tore through her black qipao.
"you need more resolve to kill someone" Rhea mused not too fazed by the large wound spanning from her shoulder to just under her bust. Raimundo was shaking he had expected Rhea to dodge or block the attack but that didn't happen. A high pitch screech brought the warriors to their knees including Rhea
"Move it!" Siren hovered above the forest, Rhea complied and leapt into the air with aid from the Dragon wing fan
"What are you doing here?" Rhea snapped taking a closer look at her wound it was deeper than she'd originally thought. The harpy judged her when she noticed the blood seeping out the qipao
"You're slipping up if you let those kids injure you"
"Shut it"
"Anyway, I'm taking the zing-zom-bone. Consider it insurance in case-"
"I fail?" rhea interrupted rudely glaring at Siren
"I said 'in case' didn't I? You can never be too careful. Anyway I'll head off and Jack is on his way over too"
Rhea clicked her tongue in annoyance "I'll have it wrapped up before he gets here"
"Well then. Don't die!" Siren waved and darted off leaving Rhea alone in the barren wasteland. She landed on a small outcrop of rocks and watched the monks hurtle out of the woods with Dojo.
'you let your guard down'
"Oh be quiet. I let them get a shot in" Rhea hissed to the sapphire dragon who was trying to lecture her.
"you shall not escape this time!" Omi announced loudly. Rhea shook her head and looked down at them from the rocks
" This will be the last stand. If you can't defeat me you won't get the zing-zom-bone and you won't save all those innocent people under its spell." Rhea leapt down to face them, "So could you kill me to save others?"
"No-one has to die!" Kimiko shouted trying to reason with Rhea "Don't you feel sorry for anything?"
"No. This is my choice and I'll see it to the end" blue flames erupted around Rhea turning her skin slightly blue in the process
"Come on guys we can take her down" Raimundo rallied the team, taking on his fighting stance
"Raimundo's right we can't let her win" Clay added "though it won't be easy"
" Wudai Orion Formation!" the four monks jumped into their signature move, each of them glowed with the colour of their element and braced themselves for Rhea's merciless attacks. Kimiko's fire power helped keep Rhea's at bay whilst the others parried her and Yuki's attacks.
"We need to take out that archer"
"Leave that to me"
Rhea stood her ground next to Yuki who had taken her human form and was aiding the battle from afar
"Yuki, take Kimiko out" Rhea's arm stared to seize up from the wound, pain was running through it 'If this keeps up they'll win' she thought angrily to herself
'You doubt-'
"I'm not! I'm strong. I'll win. Losing is not an option" Rhea chanted the flames around her flared again twisting around her body and crystallising into sapphire Chinese armour. The armour was dragon themed and included a horned helm, clawed gauntlets, her qipao was a dark blue colour, a chest plate with a scale effect and thigh length leg armour.
"Are you ready?" The borrowed power from the dragon enhanced her speed allowing her to separate Kimiko from the rest of the group. Rhea took on the three males whilst leaving Kimiko to the fallen warrior.
"Kimiko!" trying to regroup proved futile as Rhea kept them at bay with a breath of fire
"you should worry about yourself before others" the battle seemed to drag out for some time. Neither side taking the upper hand though it appeared that the oldest warrior was merely toying with them. Rhea's battle with the male monks ended abruptly as a loud explosion occurred behind them. Yuki was laying in a heap on the floor. Ignoring her fight Rhea rushed over to her fallen companion.
"Yuki" fortunately the warrior still breathed but she was heavily wounded
"Forgive me, I have failed you" she wheezed trying to sit up. Rhea shook her head
"Don't worry. I'll take care of them"
"Hey what happened to 'worry about yourself before others?" the Brazillian mocked, feeling like they'd taken control of the battle. Once again Rhea lost control of her emotions turning back to the group with such hatrid in her eyes
"Oh don't worry you have my undivided attention" the fires raged out of control the angrier she became the easier it was for the Sapphire Dragon to take over her. The armour spread further around her body, she was starting to look more like a dragon down the helm grew a visor and the back of her qipao twisted itself into a tail.
"RHEA!" the red haired genius finally reached the scene armed with many jackbots
"Stay out of it Spicer!" she growled, never did Rhea call him by his last name unless he was in trouble "I can handle this" rushing forward eager to end the fight so she could help Yuki. Rhea wasn't going to hold back any longer and neither did the monks.
" Wudai Orion Formation!" it was four elements against one, the match seemed a bit unfair but Rhea liked it that way. the kwan-do became engulfed in flames as she met the attacks. The confrontation of elements started to take its toll on the already barren wasteland. A crater was being formed as the elements raged. It all came down to whose will was stronger.
'They should be easy to beat. So why can't I?! Why do they keep coming back every time?' doubt and uncertainty plagued Rhea's mind and that was the start of the end. Rhea's kwan-do started to crack at the tip as the force from the blast was too much, it didn't take long for it to shatter completely the power sending her flying to the edge of the crater they'd made. It hadn't been just her Kwan-do that cracked, the armour that protected her started to fall apart.
'you have lost'
Rhea frowned, in anger and in sorrow. She knew what was to follow. As the armour vaporized her flames went out of control and started to consumed her.
"Rhea!" despite having to fight her, Omi still considered Rhea a friend and rushed to her aid,
"Omi, I don't have the wu. I don't know where it is otherwise I'd give it to you. I don't go back on my bargains" Her body went numb from the feet up. Slowly her body refused to move at all.
"So after all this you still lied to us" Raimundo snapped showing no remorse to the woman,
"I never said I had the wu and I don't know where it is" those were her last words as the azure flames engulfed her completely. Rhea was nothing more than a sapphire statue.
"Lets break it so she can never come back" Raimundo moved to kick the statue but several jackbots barred his way,
"I won't let you!" Jack ordered his jackbots to grab the statue and they flew off with it. "Don't worry Rhea, I'll get you back to normal. Somehow."
"So what now guys? We still don't have the zing-zom-bone and Rhea was the only person who might have known where it is."
"Then we have to find it."
~In shibuya~
Rayne was sat in her office drinking when the glass she was drinking from shattered in her hands, that was an ill omen. Reaching for a cloth to clean the mess up she sighed,
"She's gone...no I feel her spirit but she won't be back. What an idiot" Rayne mumbled to herself.
A/N: Soooo after all that it's over. . I may do some other bits for it and maybe a sequel buuut let me know what you all think. Thanks for reading and putting up with my terrible update schedule.