//------------------------------//
// Final Transformation 
// Story: Three More Things! 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	As Jackie and Chan stepped off the elevator, the hallway in front of them filled with the shadow ninjas.  Chan smirked as he gripped the sword he'd brought tighter.  "Told you," he stated simply as he reactivated it.

Nodding, Jackie reactivated his own.  "No need to rub it in."  The pair took twin offensive stances, swords at the ready.

The ninjas lunged for them, and the pair struck back.





Shendu watched as the Shadow Khan were ruthlessly and methodically slaughtered with sword slashes, devastating punches and kicks, and at one point a snapped neck.  He watched longer than he'd actually intended, as he'd only meant to observe to see if either Chan had the remaining Talisman half, but the studied brutality of the assault had seized his attention.  He was a demon, after all, and such things were quite intriguing to him.  However, his connection to the artifact that let him summon the Shadow Khan was starting to become costly in terms of magic expenditure, so he withdrew to his normal sense.  "Both Chans are in the building," he informed the assembled group.  "Neither has the missing Talisman half."

Before anyone else could speak, Hak Foo grinned.  "I have located it!" he cried triumphantly.  "The nervous movements gave it away!"  Taking hold of Jade's right shoe, he looked her straight in the eye.  "You can cooperate with removing the shoe, or I can remove the foot-"

"Enough!" Tohru roared angrily as Jade whimpered and the fillies screamed in fear, stomping forward to seize Hak Foo by the head.  "Leave them alone!"

"Get me my Talisman!" Shendu snarled angrily.

"Will someone please try to stay calm?" Valmont pleaded desperately.  "We don't want the Chans angry with us, remember?"

A ripping sound in the air was followed by the doors falling apart in pieces.  "Too late," Chan snarled angrily.

"Let her go!" Jackie insisted angrily as they both lunged forward.

Tohru, deciding he'd finally had enough of the Black Tiger, hurled him towards the Chans as Valmont ducked behind his desk.  Unfortunately, Hak maintained his grip on Jade's shoe, causing it to pop off and send the Talisman half bouncing towards Valmont's desk.  Seeing his chance, Valmont lunged out, seized the Talisman half, and slammed it into its slot.  As the Talisman fused, Jackie and Chan were fused back into a single entity, holding a single sword.

Shendu let out a roar as the Talismans were absorbed into his stone body, letting him move for the first time in 900 years.  As he uncurled from the uncomfortable twist and extended his arms and legs, he lifted his head to the sky.  With a powerful flex of muscle and magic he cried, "I...LIVE!"

At full size, he stood fifty feet tall and a dozen feet wide at the shoulder, easily dwarfing even Tohru's massive bulk.  His form rippled with muscle and magic as he glowered down at all around him.  "At long last...my powers fully restored...Speed...Invisibility...Astral Projection..."  He turned towards the Qi Lin foals who so troubled him.  "And my personal favorite...Combustion!"  With that, he hurled a massive fireball at the group of four.  He heard them scream, heard and saw the explosion of impact...and stared in stupefaction at the slightly scorched sumo that stood between him and his targets, arms crossed over his face.  "What?" he demanded in shock.  "How do you still live?"

Tohru snarled in fury as he glowered up at the demon before him, burn marks on his limbs and half his shirt burned away the only marks from the impact of a fireball larger than his entire body.  "Master!" he called to Valmont.  "Consider this my two weeks' notice!"

"Understood, Tohru," Valmont responded in understanding.  "The apartment's paid up through the end of the month, and your severance check will be in the mail before the week is out."

Shendu found himself torn between rage at the seeming betrayal and being impressed that Valmont - despite his seeming humanity - could be both so cold-blooded and so magnanimous.  Humans were so unpredictable.  He found his distraction over that negated when Tohru lunged forward, attempting to grapple him.  It was rather amusing, since the sumo couldn't even wrap his arms completely around him.  "It seems pure nerve and determination to protect grants you some resistance to my magic," he commented dryly.  "In that case, main strength will do the trick!"  Reaching forward, he seized Tohru with one hand, yanked him off his feet, and delivered a powerful punch to his gut that tore him from the demon's grip and sent him flying through the wall and out of the building.

Valmont watched that with some nervousness before turning back to Shendu.  "Well, the office is in shambles, but I'm certain the lost treasure will more than cover the expenses..."

Shendu narrowed his eyes.  On one hand, he more than wanted to stab Valmont in the back by denying him the treasure, especially since the man knew now he had no leverage at all.  On the other, neither dryadic familiar nor kinto un were in sight.  The forces of good had powerful allies, so it would be best to keep those he had, however useless, to counter the human element until he could summon his minions.  Besides, nothing said he had to let Valmont keep the treasure once he'd taken over the world.  "The treasure is in my temple," he growled out.  "You know where it will be.  Meet me there to receive your payment.  Until then, begone from my sight!"

"As you wish," Valmont agreed as a chopper came down from the roof at the hole Tohru had been knocked through, giving Valmont, Ratso, Finn, Chao, and Hak Foo an exit.

Once that headache was gone, Shendu turned back to the girls.  "And now, nothing is left to protect you from my wra-"  He stopped as he heard an oddly familiar sound.

Jackie walked calmly towards the group, his eyes narrowed in determination and his mouth a grim line.  The sound was the tip of his sword dragging along the floor.  As he stepped between Shendu and the girls, he drew a line in the carpet with his blade as though daring Shendu to cross it.  He then took an ancient battle stance, leveling his blade at Shendu's heart.

Shendu's eyes widened.  He remembered that stance...





The Demon Sorcerers had just claimed the full mantle of their power, released upon the human world.  Shendu marched through Ancient China, taking whatever caught his fancy and destroying anything that got in his way.  As he journeyed, he caught sight of a fair maiden, and decided he would have her.  As he approached, however, a voice momentarily stayed him.

"Touch not my niece, fell beast!"

A somewhat old man with crimson hair dressed in blue stepped out of a nearby homestead, marching calmly until he stood between Shendu and his intended prey.  Pulling a sword from its sheath, he drew a line in the ground between himself and the demon, taking a combat stance with the point of the blade aimed at the demon's heart.  "Cross that line, and face my wrath."

Shendu laughed at the mortal's audacity.  "You amuse me, human!" he gloated.  "Tell me your name, that I might remember it as the first fool to fall to me!"

The human stared him right in the eyes.  "Lü Dongbin."





"Im...impossible..." Shendu murmured in shock as he took a step back.

At that moment, the sound of many pounding feet echoed as Captain Black and the troops of Section 13 charged in.  "Freeze!" Captain Black shouted out, only to gape in shock.  "What...is that?"

Snarling, Shendu activated his magic.  He would have to deal with the Qi Lin and Chan another time...when he had adequate backup.  Lifting into the air, he sped through the hole he had made with the power of the Rooster and the Rabbit, making his way towards China.