The Last Wudai Quest, Chapter Three

[lonewolfprincess]

Mia held out the platter of seven mooncakes- four baked, three snowskin, all uniquely flavored- to the evil boy genius. The way his overly-made-up eyes lit up made her soften ever so slightly. (And honestly, Wuya’s exasperation made it even funnier.)

“Okay, here’s the deal: you take your pick of three, and then you head home. Got it?”

Jack barely twitched his hand towards the plate before Wuya flew in his face to scream at him.

“You can’t seriously be considering trading Shen Gong Wu for sweets!”

Jack rolled his eyes. “You’re just jealous that you can’t eat them yourself, my faithful servant.” He continued reaching out, hovering over the cakes… before his hand ducked down and snatched the whole plate. “And who said I was trading?”

“What?!” the girls shouted in shock as Raimundo facepalmed behind them.

“Noooo!” Tori wailed. “Jerk Spice, how could you?!”

Jack laughed wickedly as he launched back into the air on his helipack.

“Because I’m evil, duh! I’m taking the Shen Gong Wu and all the mooncakes, dweebs!” He pointed dramatically at the Dragons below. “Jack-Bots, attack!”

He waggled his fingers in anticipation over the mooncakes, ready to devour them like popcorn as the monks got their butts kicked, but—

“Wait, none of these have pistachio, right?” he called out. “I’m allergic!”

“What the— Why didn’t you ask that before you grabbed them, you moron?!” Mia snarled as she started clawing Jack-Bots apart. Honestly, none of them did, but she wasn’t in a customer service mood at the moment.

“Girls, focus!” Raimundo called out, already tapping into his element and sending huge swaths of Jack-Bots to their dooms with tsunamis of wind. “We gotta protect the vault!”

Tori and Mia nodded, launching into the familiar pose back to back.

“Dragon Y—”

A Jack-Bot slammed into Tori before they could finish, yellow eyes glowing as it grappled the screaming Sun Dragon.

“Tori!” Mia snarled, claws already sprouting from her fingertips as she rushed forward. “Bull Breaking Wall!”

Mia slammed her hands into the Jack-Bot’s shoulders, shoving it away from her sister, further, further, until she could slam its back into a tree and explode it apart—

Wuya cackled as she shot out of the robot’s helmeted head… and into Mia’s!

The Moon Dragon screamed as she crumpled to her knees on the courtyard stones, ice and pain and rot and wrong lancing her head as she clawed at it.

“Mia!” Tori sprinted towards her, almost unconsciously sweeping grasping servos away.

Raimundo’s breath caught as he took in the scene over his shoulder, only sparing a second to send another swiping gust of wind to destroy another legion of Jack-Bots before bolting for his student. Even Jack was startled by the tactic, barely catching the plate of mooncakes from falling out of his grasp.

“Get out get out get out…!” Mia chanted, growl building as her jaw lengthened and teeth sharpened.



The walls and ceiling of the tunnel spun around Omi, each ricochet off the glass knocking more and more precious air out of his lungs. Still that corrupted laugh rang out over the roaring flood.

“Most shameful, being defeated by your own Xiaolin element! Perhaps if you hadn’t spent so much time repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again, you could have learned better control!”

Omi gritted his teeth, fighting every reflex to not scream at his own twisted voice, vision darkening.

“Perhaps you could have even made an adequate leader! At least better than the last Warrior to reach Apprentice!”

Omi’s eyes flew open. Oh… His hand drifted towards the golden pendant around his neck, heavy as an anchor.

“Mistakes suck, but… you know that’s not all we are.”

Wuya capturing them after the puzzle box failed for Jack, shooing her golems to the dungeons so their blood wouldn’t stain the throne room. Stone walls and bars squeezing him and Jack Spicer like a wine press.

“Master Fung chose you for a reason! You don’t belong on the Heylin side!”

Wuya blithely listed all the material riches she could give Raimundo.

“… I want my friends!”

The Cosmic Clash Showdown after the Heylin Eclipse. The possessed, Shrouded Raimundo knocked all the Dragons to the ground.

“How do we fight an enemy we can’t see?” Clay asked.

Omi smirked firmly under his armor’s mask. “By relying on a friend whom we can’t see, but I am sure is still there! Dragon X-Kumei Formation!”

Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay challenging Chase Young for Omi’s soul.

“The game is Xiaolin Soccer! First to score four points wins! You and your jungle cats against the four of us!”

Chase rose a skeptical brow. “The four?”

“That’s right. Omi-cat is playing with us!”

Omi breathed, slowly, in and out… The water tasted of earth on a rainy summer’s day, and the ache in his lungs finally eased.



Kimiko screamed, pushing futilely at the unresponsive flames as they kept clawing at her hair and clothes, heat slicing at her skin like dagger blades.

“Awww can the sweet widdle pwincess not handle the heat~?” The Chameleon cackled savagely.

Kimiko growled, cut off almost instantly as another flame rushed towards her and she struggled to push it back. It only curved around her, snapping at the band of one of her pigtails and… and the sunflower hairpin, fluttering softly…

“That’s how I see you… You’re so smart and daring and you care so much about the people around you! Tap into that light, let it guide you in the darkness, and share it freely so you can guide others!”

The Showdown in the emperor’s basement. Jack screamed in frustration as he dove after the falling Tiger Claws. Kimiko though… she laughed as all the frustration of the last few days melted away with that simple success, and she swung easily on the Comb to pluck the Claws mid-fall.

“Told you she would.” Raimundo smirked as Clay shook his hand.

“Looks like you win the bet, partner.”

Sibini combining the Mosaic Scale and the Monarch Wings, seconds from grasping invincibility.

“Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean I can’t fix it! Eye of Dashi, Fire!”

The amulet nearly scorched her hand as the ruby spewed lightning and flames, burning like lightning torching a dead tree. The force was intense too, threatening to shove her off course, but no, she had to keep steady, the world depended on it.

The car chase in San Francisco, Katnappe and her girlfriend flying into the sky, Tori suggesting that Kimiko and Raimundo combine their elements into the same Wu, unprecedented.

“Well, only way to find out! You ready, Kimiko?”

Kimiko nodded firmly. She had no idea whether this would work either, but… she trusted Raimundo, just as much as he trusted her to set up almost everything on this mission.

“Ready!”

Raimundo spared a split second to give her a warm smile before they set their hands on the controls, his fingers landing on top of hers.

“Crouching Cougar!” they shouted as one. “Wind!” “Fire!”

The Cougar roared, bronze plating blazing with sky blue cheetah spots and coal-red tiger stripes as it leapt into the sky.

Kimiko relaxed her body, took a fraction of a second to feel where the flames wanted to go. A gentle sweep of her wrist, and the fire spun up, up in a cyclone towards the ceiling of the cave, tighter, hotter… until it shrunk into a tiny ball of pale blue, and Kimiko smiled serenely as she bade it to spiral back into her hands.



Clay scrambled for solid earth to grasp, the sand swallowing him up to his ribcage, all but crushing his legs and stomach as the possessed reflection laughed.

“So much for standing your ground, huh, kid?”

“Grrr, would you knock it off—WHOA!” The sand shifted, trapping him to his armpits as Sibini cackled again. Come on, he had to think of something. His scrambling shoved the sleeve of his Xiaolin robe up his harm… revealing the hematite heart.

“You’re stupidly smart, and wise, and just… unendingly kind. And most importantly, you know how to be bold when you need to.”

The Quest for the Bird of Paradise, the Canyon of Doom and Agony collapsing around them. “Let me handle this, partner,” Clay said, resting a hand on the angry canyon wall. “It’s my element that’s making all of the ruckus.” A centering breath, a wave of his hands… before clapping them together, bits of raw stone molding themselves into gauntlets. “Wudai Crater, Earth!” And a pillar of cursed earth shot itself out, forming a perfect tunnel.

Leaping through the Tiger Claws portal back to Portland, holding out the rejected Crescent Fang to a weak, hesitant Mia.

“I-I know I haven’t given y’all much reason to trust me, but—”

Long fingers clasped over his around the hilt, feebly at first, increasing in sureness with every millisecond as silver light flowed into her. Mia gave him that sharp, teasing smile, and now he knew to look for the softness behind it in her clear gray eyes.

“You just leapt through a portal to save us, after I treated you like dirt. I think I can trust you, Tex.”

Clay’s father yelling at his brother and sister, after they saved Texas from the Bull Demon King himself.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Clay slammed his foot to the ground to punctuate the shout, the epicenter of a rippling tremor that everyone barely kept their balance for. He marched up to his father, barely keeping his footsteps from kicking up aftershocks as he stepped in front of his siblings, fists tight and trembling at his sides. “All due respect, sir, you ain’t talking to them like that…!”

Clay stilled, chuckled as he shook his head… then pulled his wrist up so he could kiss the heart… before gently smacking the ground. The sand squeezed tighter, tighter, forcing the water out, until Clay was encased up to his chest in pure sandstone. One more tap of his fist… and the stone shattered, cratering as Clay knelt in the epicenter, a big grin on his face.



“WHAT?!”



A serene smirk spread over Omi’s face as he finally righted himself on the water, infuriating the corrupted reflection even more.

“Perhaps I was never meant to be the leader. Perhaps I will never make my parents proud, or regretful of leaving me.” His smile only grew surer as white light surged over his sash, turning the deep turquoise threads pure gold, engraving the pendant’s spiral with the deepest lapis lazuli, lining the wave with silver. “But that will not stop me from becoming the best I can be, nor from helping my real family do the same!”



Kimiko just grinned as the knock-off howled in rage.

“You’re right. I am scared of letting everyone down… of losing them. Especially him…” She let the blue flame rest in the air as she retied her hair into a high ponytail. As she set the kanzashi in place at its base, pure white light turned the sunflowers into a beautifully folded, ruby-eyed phoenix, the flight feathers of the red and gold wings and the ends of the streaming tail feathers burning sapphire blue. A perfect complement for the golden sash around her waist. “But if they’re taking that much on by themselves… that just means I need to step up!”



Sibini sure wasn’t laughing now, grinding his crooked teeth and clenching his fists at his sides as he growled.

Clay just chuckled back. “Ain’t nothing wrong with being kind or falling back when it’s needed. It’s hard finding that balance…” His gentle smile only made the demon gnash its teeth harder, turquoise giving way to gold as the heart on his wrist transmuted from shining gray to vibrant blue and green ripples of azurite and malachite. “And you’re right… I did mess up in that other world. And part of me’s scared of doing it again. But I can’t let those fears stop me from doing what’s right… she never does, after all.” His grin sharpened as he punched his hand. “About time I punched you in the face!”



“Shoku Xuanwu, Water!”

The flood rushed forward from all sides, churning, compressing as Omi stayed perfectly balanced in the turbulent flow. The dense water circled, spiraled, sharpening to a drill point… before Omi flung a hand towards the mirror! The Heylin Omi let out a guttural roar as its mirror shattered.



“Shoku Zhuque, Fire!”

Kimiko fed the blue flame, larger, hotter, until a sword of pure white-blue jet fire stood brightly in her palm. The Chameleon screamed as the flame pierced its mirror, melting the center of the glass as the rest shattered from the sheer heat.



“Shoku Qilin, Earth!”

Gauntlets of sandstone and fragmented obsidian formed over Clay’s fists, sharp cubes of blood red and deep golden garnet studding the knuckles.

“NOOOO!” Sibini shrieked, shrill as cicada wings, as the giant fist slammed into its face.



Three panes of volcanic glass shattered, and three Shoku Warriors tumbled through them in the momentum of their new powers.

Omi gasped elatedly. “My friends!” He ran to gather their legs in a tight embrace, the Fire and Earth Dragons returning the hug eagerly.

Clay sighed as they pulled back, wiping his brow with his forearm. “Hoowhee, that was a pain and a half…”

Omi nodded. “Indeed. But we all passed with soaring flags!”

“Flying colors,” Kimiko corrected with a soft giggle, flipping her new ponytail and the phoenix’s tailfeathers with one hand.

“That too!”

Clay chuckled as well. “I don’t know about y’all, but I could use about a whole state fair’s worth of food and a ten-year nap, in that order.” The others nodded and murmured enthusiastically. A soft tap of his slipper against the ground… “Earth.” And the stone and glass all echoed back, pointing towards where they opened to open sky and setting sun. Clay gently pointed towards it. “Thataway.”

Kimiko smiled brightly. “Fire.”

A long stream of small, gentle flames lined the ceiling of the cavern, winding deeper and deeper towards the light.

“And last but not least… Water.”

Omi gathered all the moisture in the air, spinning it in a circle, then a disk, then freezing it. Everyone hopped aboard, flying towards the exit.



“Get your hands off my sister!” Tori screamed. “Sun!”

The aura still felt bright, joyful, but with a searing edge like the beginnings of a sunburn. Wuya merely chuckled as she casually flew out of the writhing Mia’s skull, almost oblivious to a snarling Raimundo pointing the Blade of the Nebula at her.

“Ah, so the other three are at the Cave of Shoku? I was curious about the thin reception.”

“N-no… leave them…!” No, no nonono if this witch went off to hurt them and it was her fault—

Raimundo swung at Wuya, knuckles tight on the hilt, as Wuya dodged and laughed.

“Don’t you ever touch her again…!”

Tori helped her lupine sister stand behind Raimundo’s protective stance, Mia’s breaths hard and shallow.

“Or what?” Wuya laughed again. “You’ll get another puzzle box and trap me for a few weeks?”

Tori scowled. “Or I could curse you like I did that psycho doctor ghost, you hag…!”

Mia stared blankly at the ghost, wide eyes beginning to glow silver—

“WHOOHOO!”

All five sets of eyes shot up. A giant malachite dragon flying through the sunset sky… and three red-robed warriors leaping off his back towards the battle below, the sky echoing with their shouts and laughter.

Tori gasped! “Aaaah they made it~!” She closed her eyes, drinking in the even stronger light of their auras, the Sun’s glow losing its angry bite. “One, two—” She gasped again with open eyes. “THREE GOLD SASHES, BABY!”

Mia let out a stunned laugh as she watched them fall, Clay summoning a stone pillar from the courtyard to cushion his fall, Omi forming a disk of ice to ride, and Kimiko summoning orbs of flame to hop down like stepping stones. A fierce grin broke over her jaws, and she howled brightly as her wolf form melted back to human. They were all home safe, Wuya couldn’t use her mind to hurt them anymore.

“Looks like your intel’s out of date, you hag!”

Raimundo grinned as well, aiming his voice up. “Cutting it close, you guys!”

Omi merely laughed as his and the others’ feet found the ground. “I believe you mean to say, ‘thank you so much for arriving just in time, Fellow Shoku Warriors?’”

Raimundo laughed, pulling all three of them in tight, all that pride and relief flowing through them all like a current. It’d been far too long since they were all on the same level, since they could do this…

The group hug broke, all four of them brandishing smirks at the scowling ghost hag, the nervous boy genius, and the remaining half of his robot army. … And then assumed that familiar set of stances, Clay and Raimundo standing tall and poised to attack, Omi balancing a hand-standing Kimiko between them.

“Shoku Four Kings Formation!”

Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth flooded the courtyard like a shockwave. The robots closest to the Formation exploded instantly, prompting their master to scream at a C6.

The Sun and Moon Dragons stared in awe, feeling the raw energy rush over them like the first true warmth of spring. They grinned, posing back to back once more.

“Dragon Y Shengqi Formation!”

Bright gold and silver poured through the courtyard, mingling with the raw elements, heightening them even more. More robots exploded on the spot, Jack’s eyes darting at the touchless carnage even more.

“No no no no no, come on, guys, that’s just cheating! At least punch them or something!”

Omi smirked. “Well, if you truly insist… Shoku Xuanwu, Water!”

A long, sharp whip of water arced over the ground, slicing through another troop of Jack-Bots, the ones behind them barely processing the input before Omi charged forward, bashing them all with an ice shield.

Raimundo whooped and punched the air. “Nice one, little dude!”

“Shoku Zhuque, Fire!” Flaming wings unfolded along Kimiko’s back, lifting her high in the air, before bursts of sharp blue flames sprouted along her fingertips like kunai. With a shout, she flung them all down, piercing dozens of Jack-Bots at the core, their explosions adding to the blue.

“Aaaaah so COOL~!” Tori squeed, hands coming up to hold her red-tinged tawny cheeks.

“Shoku Qilin, Earth!” Clay smacked his stone gauntlets together, the quartz knuckles glowing bright white as he strode towards a single Bot at the front of a crowd and knocked on its plating as gently as a door. A calm step back as the tapped Bot shook… then exploded. Followed like dominoes by every single Bot behind it.

Mia laughed heartily, punching the air above her as her cheeks burned. “Nice one, Tex!”

“Hey, save some for the rest of us!” Raimundo called out with a grin. “Shoku Feilian, Wind!”

The Shoku Warrior of the Wind strafed through his own crowd of Bots as quick as a lightning strike, untouchable as a gale, the thunderwave exploding them microseconds before they crashed into each other.

Tori grinned at her own small swarm of Jack-Bots, “panic” already racing through their protocols.

“Sun!” Tori grabbed one retreating Bot by the servo, guiding it into a dancer’s spin before launching it like a top into its brethren.

“Moon!”

Mia flew into a spinning leap, landing on a Jack-Bot’s domed head to use it and its cohorts as stepping stones towards her real target… the screaming, retreating Jack, still only a few feet above the ground on his helipack but taking off quickly—

“Crescent Fang!”

The wolf pounced on Jack’s back, knocking him to the ground with a yelp as the mooncake platter went flying. Once the pain of landing on hard stone subsided, he flipped onto his back to find six angry Dragons staring down at him glaring and smirking and in Mia’s case outright growling, Clay lifting a hand to catch the platter and all seven mooncakes without even looking.

“You wanna keep going, Spicer?” Raimundo asked with a cool smirk, cracking his knuckles.

Jack spared a panicked glance at Wuya, then squeaked out “Nope, I’m good… Enjoy the festival…”

And the Wu-less Jack Spicer wobbled into the sky on his yet-again-mangled jetpack.

Everyone shared satisfied looks… before breaking into grins and whoops and colliding into each other in glee.

“Three for three!” Raimundo called out, fistbumping all three of the new Shoku Warriors.

“Aaaah~!” Tori scooped Raimundo and Kimiko and Omi into a group hug. “That was incredible! Especially the fiery wings and the blue flames and BOOM!” She giggled brightly as she gestured at Kimiko’s new hairstyle. “Is that my kanzashi? Did the cave transform it? It looks so beautiful!”

“Yup!” Kimiko flipped her ponytail. “Figured I could use a makeover to celebrate. You like it?” And she aimed that coy smile and wink right at Raimundo.

“Uh…” Raimundo’s face flooded brick red, everyone’s eyes burning on him nearly as hot as the flame in his chest. “Y-yeah, it looks… It looks cool…” he managed to squeak out.

Mia smiled sharply as she stepped towards Clay, tapping her fist against his shoulder. “Knew you got this, Tex.”

Clay smiled back, cheeks pink… before catching her fist to pull her in, kissing her right between those beautiful gray eyes.

Mia fell to her knees on the cobblestones, scalp to collarbone burning rose pink.

“D— … I um…”

Clay balked a bit. “Should I not’ve done that…?” he stage-whispered over his shoulder to the others, who only gave holding-in-laughter smirks back.

Tori grinned like a Cheshire cat as she picked her sister off the ground. “Come on, guys! I think the potluck is just about to start, and we’ve got a lot to celebrate!”

“I um… y-yeah…” Mia shook herself back to reality, using the fist not draped over Tori’s shoulders to clear her throat. “We don’t wanna miss—wait…” She looked around the courtyard. “Where are the mooncakes? Did Spicer take them or…--”

A burp cut through the question. Yup, coiled on the abandoned, clean platter like a sofa sat a tiny Dojo, belly distended.

“Mmph! Okay, sweetheart, the coconut passionfruit snowskin?” Dojo made a chef’s kiss with his little claw tips. “The texture is divine!”

Mia took a slow, deep breath through her nose, everyone tensing at the tirade to come… and then she chuckled, shaking her head.

“Come on, DJ.” She plucked the heavy little dragon off the platter. “No spoiling the rest, okay? Not gonna be much longer anyway.”

The teens all laughed as they strolled towards the Grand Hall.