CH. 4

HEY YOU GUYS!
Emma: Kill me now.
I very well might. Anyway, thanks BOTH PEOPLE who voted on my poll and inspired me to get Runa back up and running. Also thanks to XboneX for nominating me in TheXGrayXLady's Awards competition! Hugs all around!
On another note, EMMA STOP BEING SUCH A SUE AAARGH.
Emma: I can't help it! You're the one writing me!
Well… go die.
Emma: Looks like I'm about to.
Agh! Spoiler alert, spoiler alert!
Emma: Oops… eheh. My bad. Enjoy!

"Are we getting close?" Omi asked. The Xiaolin Dragons, plus Emma and Dojo, had been plodding through huge metal pipes for the last half hour. The air was damp and musty, which made Kimiko complain about her hair. Water dripped from above, making Raimundo shiver. Clay and Dojo's conditions had been improving, though it was taking quite a bit longer than they'd expected. The enchantment from the rooms had affected them longer than the others, so it was taking them longer to recover.

"Yeah," Dojo said, still very subdued. "Take a left here." The Warriors did as they were told, Dojo's Wu-senses leading them through the maze of pipe work. Emma frowned, thinking. They were in a literal maze of pipes under Troy, where there shouldn't have been any remains, much less this. Enchanted rooms, chess pieces, a giant snake and now this. The Irish girl's suspicions were quickly being confirmed, though she didn't want to admit it.

"About how much longer until we reach the Zenith Mirror?" Kimiko groaned.

"I'd say fifteen minutes at the least," Dojo sighed. "This place is just barely letting me feel it; I'm surprised I can even smell in here." Emma's frown deepened. She knew she needed to tell them soon. However, her concentration was broken when she stepped into water. She blinked, looking down the pipe. What was illuminated by the Tenzin Torch showed a few inches of murky, brackish water at the bottom. "Hey, guys," she said. "Quick question."

"Yuh-huh?" Raimundo replied, bending down to poke at the freezing water.

"When I was talking about the three trials, did I mention anything about water?" she asked fearfully.

"Yeah, several times," Kimiko answered. "Why?"

"'Cause I think it was for more than the purpose of rhyming," Emma said fearfully. "We gotta hurry!" The Dragons exchanged glances, dashing down the tunnel. They soon realized that the closer Dojo guided them to the Mirror, the deeper the water was getting. By the time Dojo told them they weren't five minutes away from the Shen Gong Wu, the water was up to Omi's waist and everyone else's knees. "It's even closer," Dojo muttered, shuddering.

"Take a left." They complied. Suddenly, Emma shrieked as she slipped and fell face first into the murky water. She surfaced a moment later, spluttering and trying to pull sheets of wet hair away from her face.

"You alright?" Clay asked, moving to help her. She held up a hand, making him freeze.

"There's a drop here," she said, removing her glasses to be cleaned. "You- blech- gotta be careful. It's like a ramp; I can feel it going down more."

"Perhaps that is what you meant," Omi suggested. "For all who seek to enter here/ Thy lives must be held close and dear/ For when the tide comes up to drown/ Trespassers will be going down/ Into the ocean's mirthless black/ So take the right and don't look back/ Three trials are what you shall find/ Succeeding will take strength of mind/ Courage is the test first faced/ To make it, you must be fast-paced/ Secondly, a test of mind/ Death is what the failures find/ Last you must not ever stray/ From the path you've laid today/ For if you give up the fight/ The water takes your life tonight."

"So, the first test, courage and speed, was the chasm," Raimundo began. "The second was the chessboard, a test of mind. And the last one was temptation, which tried to lead us astray. So, I think the whole 'giving up the fight' thing means stopping just because the water's rising."

Kimiko nodded. "It mentioned the ocean earlier, so I bet it'll keep going until it fills the pipes. High and low tide, right?"

"Sounds about right," Clay said. "Ah bet th' room with th' Shen Gong Wu is still dry as a bone. So if we find that..."

"We get our exit," Emma finished, beaming. "Sweet! Except for one thing."

"What's that?" Raimundo asked.

"The ramp," Emma said. She pointed to the tunnel, and Clay held up the Tenzin Torch. It's light showed that the pipe did indeed go down into the water, getting steeper and steeper until it was completely submerged. "The only Wu we have is the Torch, and while that gives us light underwater, it won't let us breathe." Raimundo frowned. "What I wouldn't give for the Gills of Hamachi right about now... hmm. Omi, do you think you could make a sort of air bubble around us if I helped? I could keep the air concentrated and you could hold the water in its shape."

"It is worth a try," the smallest monk replied. He turned and waded farther and farther into the water, until it was up to his chin. The others followed, being careful not to slip on the descent. Once they were all gathered around Omi, he closed his eyes and concentrated. "Wudai Neptune, Water!" His dots glowed, and he spun around. The water around him was pushed away, and the Warriors pulled close as Raimundo began his part.

"Wudai Star, Wind!" Wind surged around them, pushing the water away even more. "Go down!" he yelled over the roar of wind and rush of water. The others obeyed, and Raimundo and Omi went with them, pulling the circle around the Warriors further down until they were completely submerged. Omi kept his arms spread, keeping the water at bay, and Raimundo guided the air bubble through the pipe.

"It smells like… fish in here," Omi complained, waving a hand in front of his nose. "This is most disgusting!"

"Better smelling the fish than swimming with them," Kimiko muttered, shivering. "Look." The others peered out, squinting, into the murky water, and started when they saw the shapes moving around. Since the air bubble was only in contact with the floor, fish swam around and above them. The creatures looked like they came from the darker recesses of the ocean, with gaping maws full of sharp, jagged teeth and pale, sightless eyes. Some looked like eels, and an octopus swam by, glowing brightly for a moment before slipping back into the blackness.

"Okaaaay, this just got creepy," Emma muttered, scooting closer to Clay. "Can we go home now?"

"And risk losing the Zenith Mirror? No way! If the Heylin had it they'd be able to see into the Temple, the Vault, even the center of the earth without having to go there. We need to keep it out of their hands long enough to get the Nadir Mirror," Dojo said. "And there are… other properties the mirrors posses together. Less desirable ones."

"That sounds like it could be an important plot device, but I'm too tired and hungry to care! Also, I'm missing the new episodes of My Little Pony and The Walking Dead," Emma said. They continued down until Omi paused, making everyone else stop for fear of getting sucked into the watery blackness.

"What's wrong, Omi?" Kimiko asked, looking down at the boy. He frowned and moved his hands upwards, staring into the abyss like he was trying to feel something. "It just... stops," Omi murmured. "The pipe continues upwards, and there are several smaller pipes around us, but we are at a deceased end otherwise."

"Can you an' Rai make the bubble go up?" Clay asked, glancing down at the slick metal they all stood on. "Ah mean, Ah'd hate to get in that water jus' as much as th' rest of ya, but Ah don't think we got much of a choice."

"Uh… anybody else smell calamari?" Kimiko asked. Everyone turned around to give her a weird look, and she shrugged. "What? Squid has a very distinct smell."

"Hey, Ah smell somethin' too," Clay said, holding a hand to his nose. "Where's that coming from?"

Omi's eyes widened and he tugged on Clay's sleeve, pointing the way that they had come. Clay turned around and held up the Tenzin Torch, blue eyes going wide at the sight of the creature behind them. A huge, pale squid filled the entire passageway, it's tentacles trailing behind it as it swam. The only odd things about it, other than its size, were its eyes, which were a glowing red.

"First a giant snake, then a giant squid. Great. Just great. Next let's have a giant spider so all my giant animal fears can be reinforced!" Emma said in a sarcastically cheerful voice, making jazz hands and completely ignoring the problem.

"MOVE!" Raimundo yelled, acknowledging said problem. The Warriors ran to the wall, where the Tenzin Torch lit up the pipe that blocked off their escape route. "Going up!" He and Omi both pushed down, and suddenly, the dragons of Fire and Earth and the resident witch were on their backs, as the force of the bubble's acceleration shoved them down. Surprisingly, they all stayed inside the bubble, but none tried to leave. The bubble's edges weren't touching the pipe, which made everyone realize how wide the tunnel had gotten.

The squid was advancing quickly, and they knew it would catch them if they didn't find a way to hide. But that opportunity was presented when they rocketed up, out of the water and into air. The bubble burst and sent everyone careening onto what seemed to be stone. They all groaned as they sat up, rubbing whatever unfortunate appendage they had landed on. After standing, they realized they were in a huge, circular chamber, which was far higher than it was big. Actually, in terms of length, it seemed to be about seventy feet in circumference. The ceilings disappeared into the dark, and a chill permeated the air. A semicircle of water was where they had come up from, and they stood on a semicircle of stone that was only about a foot or two thick. The wall of the tunnel was just the pipe itself, but against the wall that the stone platform rested against was a huge wooden door. Actually, it was a set of double doors that looked like a single door, but upon closer inspection one could tell that they were separate. Ornate carvings covered the doors and their doorframe, and in the center, the letters WG were inside a giant circle.

"WG?" Omi asked, approaching the door. "What does that stand for?"

"Oh, no," Dojo muttered, eyes going wide.
"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is," Emma squeaked.

Dojo glanced at her. "I think it is what you think I think you think it is. I think."

"We're doomed," she moaned, hiding her eyes. "So very, very doomed."

"What're you two goin' on about an' what do you know that we don't?" Clay asked. Dojo sighed and slithered off his hat and onto the ground, turning to face everyone.

"I know what this is because I've been around enough. Emma probably knows because of her magic studies, right?" he asked, glancing at the Irish girl. She nodded and Dojo continued. "Those tests, the tunnels underneath Troy, of all places, my Wu senses going haywire- I'm surprised I didn't realize it sooner."

"Well, expectorate it!" Omi cried, waving his arms. "What does WG stand for?"

"It stands for-" but before Dojo could complete his sentence, a pale tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him back into the water. "DOJO!" everyone screamed.

"C'mon!" Emma yelled, running towards the water along with Omi, who was closest.

"Wait, what was Dojo about to say?" Raimundo asked, running after her. She paused before turning back around to answer. "You know that, since I'm a witch, not an elemental, my studies were slightly different than yours. Well, at one point, I studied magic cults and groups, almost clubs, if you will. WG are the initials of one of the groups, the most deadly. They called themselves the-" but a tentacle wrapped around her mouth, cutting her off and dragging her into the water as well.

"EMMA!" they yelled. "Is it just me or does this thing have a grudge against us trying to figure out who wants us dead?" Raimundo cried in frustration. Omi didn't hesitate and jumped in, ignoring Kimiko's cry of worry.

"Standing here won't do 'em any good," Clay said. "C'mon!" He clenched the Torch between his teeth, pirate style, and dove into the water after Omi. With their light source rapidly sinking, Raimundo and Kimiko glanced at each other and jumped in. They ignored the sting of the freezing water against their skin and followed the Tenzin Torch's glow, down a few feet into the murky depths. The squid still had Emma and Dojo in its grip, and Omi was already down there, trying to free them. Clay was close behind, moving out of the way just a second before a larger tentacle would have hit him.

"MMPH!" Dojo cried, his mouth still covered by the tentacle. He clawed at it as the squid swung him out of the way so it could get a clear shot at Raimundo. "MMPH MMPH MMPH!" He pointed frantically to a spot in the center of the tentacles, but Kimiko was the only one to notice. The Japanese girl grabbed a tentacle and hung on as the squid tried to shake her off, trying to see what Dojo was pointing at. In the middle of the tentacles was a beak, snapping open and closed.

'That must be a weak spot,' Kimiko thought, but her train of thought was interrupted when the squid slammed her against the pipe. Luckily, she wasn't hurt too badly, and managed to swim over to Raimundo while Omi distracted it. She tugged on his sleeve and pointed to the beak, and his eyes widened in comprehension. He swam over to the nearest tentacle and grabbed it, hanging on as the squid slung him towards Clay. He let to in time for Clay to grab it and wrap it around another tentacle in a knot. He gave Raimundo a thumbs-up and went for the next tentacle while Kimiko swam closer and closer to the beak. As the guys tied the squid's appendages together, Omi managed to free Dojo. Emma, however, had yet to get loose, and was losing air fast.

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph…" Her struggling had become noticeably weaker, and had the others not been so busy, they might have seen it. But they had a lot on their hands, and even the Xiaolin Dragons needed oxygen. So when only half the tentacles had been tied together and the other half were still lashing violently at them, they realized just how much they needed air. They surfaced for oxygen only for a moment, diving back down again to finish the job. But by the time they reached the place the squid had once been, it had managed to free its tentacles and jet off into the blackness.

"Pfah!" Omi was the last to surface. He spat out more water before managing to speak. "Emma is not down there, and neither is the squid!"

"No! She'll die in a few minutes if she don't get any air in her!" Clay said, looking around frantically. "Where's it takin' her, anyway?" Everyone turned to Dojo, who had managed to slither onto the stone platform.

"What we were trying to say," he panted, still short of breath, "is that WG stand for the Wizard's Guild. An old, old club, created before even Dashi's time, but they were always the most powerful. Their roster changes every century or so, which is pretty often for a club like that. Not to mention the fact that their headquarters can be found in almost every country to accommodate how many members they have. The squid tried to grab us because we smell like magic more than you four. Elemental magic is quiet, but dragonism and backwards magic are loud. If she hasn't gotten free by now, it's taking her to whoever's in charge of the guild."

"And I'm guessing you have no idea who that is," Raimundo wheezed, clambering up onto the platform as well. He helped Kimiko climb on as Omi followed.

"Ah… no. It used to be Wuya, actually." Everyone started and, if they weren't looking at Dojo before, they were now. "Well, okay, she wasn't in charge, but she was pretty high up. Then she got kicked out for some reason or another. I'm not exactly sure what it was; I don't pay much attention to the Heylin social circles."

"Okay, okay, so we know Wuya was in this Wizard's Guild. That means they're pretty tough, right?" Raimundo asked, beginning to pace. Dojo nodded and he continued. "Right. So whoever's in charge now obviously knows what they're doing with all these traps and stuff. And he or she knows that Emma's got a connection to magic. Question is, why would they take her instead of just, y'know, getting rid of her and eliminating some competition?" Raimundo asked.

"Think about it, Rai. If you had the world's greatest soccer player and could either have them on your team or dead, which would you choose?" Kimiko asked.

"Kimiko has a spike."

"Ya mean point."

"Oh, yes, thank you, Clay. But Kimiko has a point! Emma is probably still alive," Omi said, smiling. "We will surely rescue her!"

"So, how do we get past the huge door?" Raimundo asked, striding to stand in front of the massive wooden door. "I don't see any handles or anything."

"We knock," Clay replied, cracking his knuckles. He walked up to the door as well, raised his fist- and knocked three times.

"C'mon, Clay, that's not gonna-" Kimiko's argument was cut short when the doors swung open, revealing nothing but darkness beyond. "- work."

"Let's go," Clay said, picking up the Tenzin Torch from where he had laid it on the floor and leading the others into the blackness, letting Dojo crawl up his arm and onto his hat. What was lit up by the Torch's glow was a corridor, except instead of pipe, it was made of stone. Bleak gray cobblestones were underneath their feet, but the Warriors stuck to the red carpet that was laid out over the stones. The corridor wasn't very wide, but it, like the chamber from before, was incredibly tall, with ceilings vanishing into the shadows. The walls, too, were gray stone, with ornate paintings of people on either side, with ornate bronze frames and curtains in red velvet the same shade as the carpet.

"Dojo, are those the witches and wizards who used to be part of this guild?" Omi asked.

"Yeah," Dojo replied, shuddering. "But it's not all of them, not by a long shot."

"Maybe it's just the ones that used this particular base," Kimiko offered.

"Probably," Raimundo agreed. Kimiko smiled at him and he returned it; both knew what the other was thinking. They needed something, anything, to keep their minds off Emma's capture. Raimundo may not have been particularly fond of the girl, but they were all friends, and her absence was odd. He had half expected it to be like the old days, before she had joined, but now it was just… quiet. Had it always been this quiet without the boisterous (albeit annoying) addition?

Then a movement from behind them startled Raimundo out of his reverie. The doors they had entered from swung shut with a silent finality. Now the hallway pitch-black, save for the circle of light cast by the Tenzin Torch.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of tense silence, Clay said what they were all thinking. "… Well. Guess that's that."

Omi nodded. "There is no going back now." And with one last glance at the place where the door had let in a few pale rays of light, they turned back and continued on. No, there was no going back, but if they had known what lay ahead, they surely would have tried.

Emma: I hate you so much right now.
Heh heh heh.
Emma: C'mon, guys! The more you review the faster she'll update! I have to know what happens! I DON'T WANNA DIE!
EDIT: Fixed the weird paragraph spacing! Thanks to TheXGrayXLady for pointing it out. XD