Chapter 3- Taken

She could hear them coming down the stone hallway of the dungeon. Blinking heavily, she struggled to sit up. Pain overcame her as she became upright. Her body was stiff and covered in blood and grime. The tattered red robes that she wore displayed even more tears and rips from her flight the day before.

Kimiko's head throbbed as she strained to hear them coming. As they neared, she could sense that they were two human warriors. Their voices echoed around the empty dungeons and Kimiko struggled to hear them.

"-check cells, His Majesty wants all the…for the next…."

"When's it going out?"

"-today. Check every…any prisoners. We'll take them-"

Kimiko could hear the doors of the cells around her being opened and closed. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and tried to block out the pain surrounding her.

The footsteps grew louder and louder as the warriors neared. Finally, she heard the footsteps halt at her door. A small opening slid open as someone peered inside.

"Here's one," the warrior called. The large door swung open as a large figure walked in. He peered around the dark cell and focused on Kimiko. She was sitting in the corner of the cell, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head in her arms.

The warrior smiled as he walked over. He stopped in front of her, and then grabbed her arms. He hoisted her to her feet, limp in his arms. The warrior lifted her head to see a sly smile on her face.

Within a second, Kimiko had taken her advantage. She ripped herself from his grasp and punched him squarely in the chest. In surprise, he fell to floor with a loud grunt. Kimiko quickly grabbed the sword belted at his waist and held it to his throat. He looked startled as Kimiko cruelly stood over him, an expressionless look on her face. She had long ago learned to block out emotion in situations like this.

Kimiko was caught off guard as she saw a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye. Instantly, she felt her self be slammed against the cell wall. The sword flew from her grasp as she was pinned against the wall. Kimiko tried to struggle free, but a pair of thick arms held her firmly there. She looked up into the face only inches of hers.

It was a young warrior, barely older than twenty if that. He was breathing heavily against her, his arms pinning her shoulders.

"Damn," he breathed, looking into her eyes. "You're hot." Kimiko rolled her eyes as the other warrior stood up and walked over.

"Thanks," he grunted. He glared at Kimiko, then raised his hand and slapped her. It was so forceful that she cried out in pain and fell over. She clutched her flaming cheek as she felt herself being hoisted up once again. The warrior tightly bound her hands with rope, and then pushed her out of the cold cell.

Gripping her arm tightly, the young warrior waited while his partner searched the rest of the cells. Finding no one, he returned and they continued back down the stone corridor. Kimiko's body ached with pain as she limply stumbled and they dragged her. Her eyes felt heavy from exhaustion and refused to follow where ever they were going.

Suddenly, they stopped. Kimiko lifted her head, raising her eyes to the scene in front of her. She gasped as the two warriors began to lead her down. Kimiko instantly began to struggle, but it was no use.

Laid out in front of her was an enormous room, tall blue and green stained glass window illuminating it. But this was not in the least what had made her gasp. Rows of cages faced her, each with a human sitting inside. Warriors strode up and down the isles between them, occasionally stopping to bark an order at one of the humans.

Kimiko was dragged down through one of the narrow isles between the few rows. She gazed, numb with horror, at the faces of the captured humans. Stopping at an empty space, the older warrior grabbed her roughly and threw her into the cage.

As she hit the bars, Kimiko gasped in pain. A blast of icy energy surged through her like liquid fire. Her body seared with pain as her eyes clouded over.

Gradually, the pain faded away as Kimiko struggled to understand what had happened. She looked around to see that she had been forced into one of the cages. Peering at the bars, she noticed a tiny engraving at the top; Spicer Inc Figures, she thought.

Tenderly, she touched the bar and felt the energy run through her. She gasped and moved her hand away.

"Don't touch the bars," a muffled voice said next to her. "They hurt." Kimiko looked over to see a little girl staring at her, her thumb in her mouth. She couldn't have been more than nine years old.

Kimiko blinked at her in surprise, and turned away. Looking around to see if no one could see her, she cradled her wrists and whispered, "Fire!" Her element quickly surfaced and burned the rope. It fell away from her in ashes.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" the girl's muffled voice said again. Kimiko turned around to see the girl staring at her in amazement.

"Them?" she asked.

"The-the dragons or something. I can't remember."

Kimiko stared at her.

"I saw what you did. That's how I knew," the girl said proudly. Kimiko sighed and looked deep into her eyes. She could tell that the girl had suffered much. What did she have to loose by telling a nine year old girl?

"Yes, I am."

The girl's eyes went wide and suddenly saddened. "Then that means you can't get rid of the bad man."

Kimiko's eyes flickered, confused. The girl spoke the truth. She couldn't defeat Chase Young on her own; he was too powerful.

"I may not be able to, but who says we can't?"

Chase Young sat on his throne, bored out of his mind. Now that he finally ruled the world, he had nothing to do. He shifted to a different position, resting his head on his hands. He scowled at a cat as it walked by, making its tail go between its legs and walk faster.

When he had first taken Omi's loyalty, there had been much resistance when he clouded over the skies. Humans, he snorted. At first, all these 'government's had refused surrender to him. But a little bit of chaos cleared that right up.

Within the first year, he had taken over every little bit of land in the world. No longer were they independent nations. Now they were just one large land mass, all ruled by him.

His next problem was the humans themselves. They were always rebelling against him, refusing to join him. Chase scowled at the thought of it. The insolent creatures would run away and hide in these so called 'safe havens', just because they didn't want to join him, the supreme ruler of the world, and work for him.

He had thought of turning them all into mindless zombies, but had decided against it. What was the fun of controlling subjects with no mind of their own? He would rather have a little rebellion, just to know that he could put it down anyway.

It didn't matter, anyway. After he had taken over all of the countries, he had always taken out a mass of their soldiers and turned them into his warrior cats. He and his army could stop anyone and anything in their path.

With his new army, he had quickly swept across his territory, terrorizing everyone in his path. Whole villages were destroyed; humans quaked in fear during his reign of terror. Convinced that he had finally crushed their spirits, Chase returned to his palace bearing new servants and soldiers, victims of the villages he had plundered.

But the rebellions continued. Chase angered at the thought of it, now months later. These humans were not even worthy of being scum under his feet! The idea had struck him back then.

Slavery. It had a nice ring to it. Chase had sent out his warriors to capture any humans they found hidden and everyone within the rebellions areas against him. He then had the humans transported to villages composed of entirely Heylin members, mostly the people working under him. They were then auctioned off to the highest Heylin bidder, now slaves under their new master's command.

Within months, more humans had been sold into slavery. This quieted up their race, as no one wanted to be ripped from their families, or to become a slave. The rebellions against Chase ended.

Now, three years from when he first took Omi, Chase Young ruled the world. There was no one, nothing that could stop him.

Except…Chase pushed that thought from his head, but it came back and haunted him, just as it had for the last three years.

The Xiaolin Dragons. Chase Young had not seen them since the night he destroyed the Xiaolin Temple. They were powerful then, but not powerful enough to stop him. Chase himself had killed Master Fung and all the other Masters of the Temple. Their dragon was missing; unfortunately he had not been able to catch it. A good waste of soup, Chase grumbled to himself.

The monks had also escaped that night. Chase was not angry that night; he was enraged and furious. He sent out orders to his warriors capture them immediately. He wanted them, as Chase knew they were the only ones who could possibly stop him.

But somehow, they always evaded his grasp. A year had passed, and still they were not found. He knew that they were now capable of their full Xiaolin Dragon powers. Yet, he knew that they could not defeat him individually. If he captured at least one of them, their trio would fall apart. Their powers would be no match for him.

Then he would be free to fully conquer the world.